The Most Cunning Beasts Don't Live in Cages
by lovethatignites
Summary: Jax, Emma, Daniel, and Maddie are going on a trip to the zoo together. Let's pretend for one second this won't involve massive amounts of drama. Jemma, Miego, and you know nothing good will happen to Daniel because I wrote the story. IT'S A MULTICHAP! What is life!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Guys. The day has come. I'm writing a MULTICHAP. I'm trying it and my sister is helping me move things along when I get a stuck so this _should_ go well. I know how this story is going to pan out and I'm really excited to write it. :D I'm thinking this will be a short multichap, but a multichap nonetheless!**

**Also, I saw ghostgirl19 shared her thoughts on the finale/season 3 in one of her chapter updates, so I decided to do the same. I already wanted to get something off my chest but I think this will be an even better way to do that. (Skip ahead to the actual fic if you'd like!) Ever since I read the season 3 synopsis on Thursday, July 31, I've shipped Jax and the new rebel witch Mia. At first I was like, _Dude why am I shipping this?!_ but then I came up with a really awesome Jia fanfic idea and... I know why I think they'd be great together, and you'll get to find that out should I write/post the whole fic. This fic I'm talking about would be a muuuuch longer multichap, and considering I'm me, I'm not sure I'll get around to writing the whole thing/posting it here. But I have a lot of it already mapped out in my head and... it's beautiful and angsty and deep and just... Jia. *red emoji heart***

**I realize we haven't actually met Mia yet and I also realize she's supposed to like *biggest eye roll in the history of forever* Daniel. (WHAT IS SO GREAT ABOUT HIM? SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME.) Maybe I'll hate Show Mia and maybe I'll hate the idea of Jia in the show, too. But I love the Mia I've created in my head, and I love the Jia I've created in my head. They are perfect for each other. Whether or not Show Jia is perfect for each other, only time will tell.  
**

**Speaking of which, I'm to the point where I believe Jax deserves better than Emma in the show. We never get a scene where Emma apologizes to him for breaking his already destroyed heart, yet he STILL gives her her powers back in the finale because he loves her (Jax = rebel with a halo. That Selena Gomez lyric is MEANT for him). I do appreciate that Emma didn't let Daniel or Andi attack Jax, but Jax deserves so much more than a one-sided relationship. He loves Emma but Emma loves *cue the eye roll* Daniel. I hate seeing Jaxy Waxy so upset. :( I'm guessing his mom is the only person he got genuine love from and she either died or disappeared or something, his father is practically Satan, and then there's Emma who just ripped out his heart and doesn't even care. Nice. (Maybe she felt bad and that's why she "protected" him after the showdown with E, or maybe that was just her way of saying thanks to him for giving her her powers back. Either way, Jax was right: "Like you cared about me." She didn't.)**

**Jemma's actual relationship in the show was overall terrible. We fanfic writers write it muuuch better. ;) If Jax would have had his powers, if Daniel would have freaking left Emma alone, if Emma and Jax would have made each other better versions of themselves instead of Emma getting even more goody-goody and making Jax walk on egg shells around her ("bf trying to change who he is for gf while gf acts like a bitch to bf" is a TOTALLY different thing than "bf and gf making each other better versions of themselves." The first thing is bad; the second thing is beautiful)—Show Jemma would have been GREAT. Remember how cute they were before they actually got together?! But alas, the show writers seem to hate Jax, so no such luck.  
**

**So, as far as season 3 goes, I want Jax to be happy and with someone he loves and who loves him. If things could go how I have them mapped out in my head (just more appropriate for younger audiences ;) XD), Jia would be great. But should Emma genuinely fall in love with Jax, then hey, let's give Jemma another shot—with Mia keeping Daniel awayyy from Emma. ;)**

**Those are my thoughts. I think today I've kinda had time to gather them better than I did last night when I tried to express my views on my fangirl Instagram... Let's just say that didn't end well and I woke up SUPER angry because I realized how much I'd let myself be disrespected and now I'm staying off the account and only leaving it open because of all the cast/crew recognitions I've gotten on it. *thumbs up* People who disrespect my views, people who try to change my views and can't respect me, are not people I have any desire to converse with. My depression was triggered today because of the Insta thing and I just do nawt need that. To anyone who happened to see my Instagram posts from last night and responded respectfully, THANK YOU and I love you. Especially Insta user lory_dory_unicorny. She's a sweetheart. *kisses***

**I ask that, agree or disagree with the views I've expressed above, you RESPECT them. Thank you in advance.**

***claps hands together once* Alright! Now that I've super-rambled, let's get on with the story! I could noooot come up with a title and then I came up with this and I'm excited because I like it. :D Enjoy!**

* * *

"Jax Novoa and Daniel Miller, report to the principal's office immediately. I repeat, Novoa and Miller to the principal's office now."

The moment Principal Alonso's words crackled over the loud speaker, the atmosphere in Mrs. Jones's eighth period chemistry class instantly changed. What was once a room full of groggy sophomores awaiting the dismissal bell so they'd be free for the weekend suddenly became a room full of eager sophomores staring expectantly at the two Sharks in question.

From the back of the classroom where she was sitting next to him, Emma Alonso grabbed her boyfriend's arm and hissed, "What'd you do?"

"Nothing," Jax said with half-faux half-real offense. His Australian accent and overall adorableness made it difficult to be mad at him. But Daniel was still Emma's ex, Jax still loved to mess with Daniel, and Jax and Daniel still hated each other. So Emma did not trust hearing the two's names together, especially not in this context.

"Mr. Novoa, Mr. Miller, you're excused," Jones said before returning to writing out some scientific formula on the board.

"_Jax_," Emma pressed.

"Emma, I didn't do anything to him, okay?" Jax took her hand in his and looked into her eyes. "I promise."

As much as Emma wanted to stay tough, it was impossible when he looked at her with those eyes. "Then why does my dad want to see you both?" she asked, more gently this time.

"I don't—"

"You coming this year?" Daniel asked obnoxiously. He was standing in the doorway, hands on his hips. "Mr. Alonso is waiting on us."

Jax didn't miss a beat. "You giving up this year? His daughter isn't waiting on you."

The classroom _ooooh_ed and cracked up while Emma and Jones gave Jax their shared signature _Was that necessary?_ look. Demma had broken up over three months ago, which was about the same amount of time Jemma had been dating. But for some delusional reason, Daniel still believed he and Emma were getting back together. Forget Diego; _Mr. Miller_ needed to get his head checked.

Jax gave Emma a quick peck on the lips then stood and sauntered out the door, smirking at Daniel as he did so. They weren't even down the first hallway when Daniel had to start. Or continue. Whichever.

"You think you're so charming," he grumbled.

"I am charming. And Emma knows it."

"Well I think you're obnoxious."

"And the entire school knows you need to move on."

"Jax—"

"You're embarrassing yourself, man," Jax said seriously. "Just let it go. Emma's with me now. She doesn't like you. The End."

Daniel crossed his arms over his chest and tried to look indifferent. "Pssh. You think I'm still hung up on Emma? Please. I am so over her."

"Right."

"I am."

Jax didn't get to reply because they arrived at Mr. Alonso's open door.

"Boys, come on in," he said from behind his desk.

"Principal Alonso, so good to see you," Jax said with a grin as he sat down. "How are you doing?"

"I'm great, Jax, thank you for asking." Emma's father could barely contain his delight. He absolutely adored his daughter's boyfriend. "Still coming over for dinner tonight?"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Excellent! Did Emma tell you? I'm making my famous spinach and anchovy casserole."

"No way!"

"Way!"

"Well, any meal made by you is guaranteed to be delicious."

Daniel stared at the two with utter disgust. When he was the one dating Emma, Daniel had never been able to make a good impression on Mr. Alonso. But Jax clearly had him… ugh… _charmed_ out of his mind. Daniel was so caught up in his jealousy he didn't even think to sit down.

Mr. Alonso's expression fell when he noticed. "Have a seat, Mr. Miller."

"Oh, right. Sorry." He quickly sat down and pretended he didn't notice Jax's smirk. "Um, are we in trouble?"

"Jax is never in trouble, and for once, Mr. Miller, neither are you. I called you two here to tell you congratulations. You are both the winners of the school-wide raffle." He extracted four tickets from his desk drawer and handed two to each Shark.

The boys responded at the same time. Jax said, "Awesome" while Daniel said, "I won something?" The Iridium High Raffle was a yearly thing. The winners were chosen at random, so he shouldn't have been so surprised. It was just that, ever since Jax had moved to town, the words "Daniel" and "win" were rarely used in the same sentence.

"You each may choose one other IHS student to accompany you to Zoo Miami this Saturday. The four of you must stay together in a group, but other than that you can do whatever you'd like—take the bus tour, go on the sky ride, explore the exhibits… And remember to have fun!"

"Wait." Daniel's face fell. He jumped up from his chair and exclaimed, "I have to spend an entire afternoon with—"

"Sounds great, Principal Alonso." Jax calmly stood from his chair and shook hands with his girlfriend's dad. "I'll be sure to tell you which exhibits I liked best."

Mr. Alonso was all smiles. "I look forward to hearing about it. You're both dismissed."

Once the guys were out in the hallway, Jax said, "Em and I sure are going to have a great time on this trip. Say, Daniel, who are you going to bring? Diego?"

Daniel resisted the urge to punch Jax in the face and said through his teeth, "No. I'm going to bring…" Who could he invite that wouldn't sound lame? Hmm…

And then he got it.

"I'm going to bring Maddie."

"Y—" Jax stopped in his tracks and scoffed. "You are not!"

Daniel shrugged and kept walking, leaving Jax no choice but to follow after him. "Of course I am. Why wouldn't I bring my _girlfriend_?"

"Maddie's not your girlfriend. She's dating Diego."

"Eh, she was just using him to make me jealous. And it worked. We got back together last week. It's a top-secret romance; even Gigi doesn't know. You'll keep quiet about it, right? Guy Code and all."

Jax eyed him curiously, searching for any hint of falsity. But Daniel kept every trace of the lie off his face. The better looking guy struggled to come up with a response. "Uh… yeah, sure."

"Thanks, man. Told you I was over Emma."

Jax shook his head. "You forgot to mention you also downgraded…"

He clearly wasn't impressed but that didn't matter. What mattered was Daniel had made Jax believe he was wrong about something. Plus, if Daniel showed up with Maddie, maybe Emma would get jealous and want him back. _Finally!_ Now he just needed to get Maddie to agree to the date and—

Wait.

Daniel's future with Emma was dependent upon his ex-girlfriend/Diego's new girlfriend/Head Panther Maddie Van Pelt agreeing to do him a favor.

He was doomed.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Ahhh guys thank you so much for your excited reviews about this story! *monkey covering eyes with hands emoji* That makes me so happy! I'm glad you're excited for this story; I am, too. It's definitely fun to write. :D Here's Chapter 2. Enjoy!**

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There was no swim practice after school because it was Friday. At their lockers, Diego told Daniel that he was walking to The Seven with Katie Rice and Sophie Johnson. He was supposed to cook four of Maddie's favorite pizzas then the three of them were bringing them to the Van Pelt residence for their Panthers-Proxy Night In. Daniel knew that would take at least an hour, so the second he stepped outside the IHS doors, he and his trusty old bicycle had booked it over to Maddie's. His ex-girlfriend had been standing in her walk-in closet, magically trying on dresses when he arrived.

Fast forward fifteen minutes to now: Maddie was still magically trying on dresses while Daniel pleaded his case to no avail.

"Maddie, come on, please—"

"No!" the blonde exclaimed for the hundredth time, extracting a bright blue mini dress from her clothing rack. She considered it for a moment before deciding it wasn't worth trying on, discarding it in a pile on the floor, and moving onto the next. "Why would I want to go on a fake date with you? I'm already real-dating Proxy."

From the armless chair where he was sitting, Daniel offered up his brightest smile and tried, "Because you're a giving person?"

Maddie barked out a laugh. "No, really. Why?"

"Because I told Jax we're together and—"

"YOU WHAT?!" She threw a lacey purple frock, hanger and all, at her ex-boyfriend, narrowly missing his face. "OMP, why would you do that?!"

"I don't knowwww." He groaned with frustration. "Because he was throwing it in my face that he's taking Emma and I wanted him to think I've moved on from her, so—"

"But you haven't," Maddie scoffed, casting a spell to try on a flowery white dress with a turquoise knit cardigan. "Just last week, when Emma and Jax were cuddling on her couch, you were jealously creeping from her kitchen window. Again." She turned away from her mirror and gave him a concerned look. "You've really gotta stop that before someone calls the cops."

"Look, can you just—how did you know I was watching them through Janis?"

Maddie's eyes lit up and her jaw dropped, and only then did Daniel realize his error. "_Janis?_ You named your creeping window?!" She snorted and laughed so hard she had to clutch her stomach to keep from doubling over. "Oh, man! If you weren't completely de-hunkified before, you _definitely _are now!"

"I asked you a—"

"JANIS!"

Daniel leaned his head back, stared at the ceiling, and silently counted to ten while he waited. When she finally sobered up a bit, he tried speaking again. "I asked you a question."

Maddie carefully dabbed at the tears in the corners of her eyes, trying not to smudge her light eye makeup. "Right." She took a few deep breaths to calm herself before answering, "Sophie was creeping from one of Emma's trees and she saw you."

"Sophie was—"

"She has a thing for Jax and she wants to be a koala and I don't even know. But anyway." Maddie reverted to Head Panther mode. She crossed her arms over her chest and made her most intimidating face. "Back to your request. I _may_ be willing to go on this fake date with you…"

Daniel's shoulders dropped. "Oh no, here it comes…"

"…_if_ you do something for me first."

"Aaaand there it is. Maddie, I don't have anything you want."

"No, but the T3 does."

The (grr…) _second-best_ Shark made a retching noise in the back of his throat. "Maddie, please tell me you're not still upset about those stupid high heels—"

"THEY WERE NOT STUPID!" she screeched. "They were beautiful. Proxy's tried to replicate them for me a bunch of times but it's just not the same." She stomped her foot and pouted.

Daniel sighed, stood, and aimlessly wandered around the closet. "They hid them over a year ago, Maddie. And you know last time I asked, they claimed they didn't remember where—"

Maddie raised an eyebrow. "And you believe them?

"Weeeell…"

"Daniel, this is the same T3 that almost launched me into a lightning storm!"

"Okay, so they probably remember where they hid them. But that doesn't mean they're going to tell me. Why can't you just use the locator spell?"

"I've tried! It never works right. I always end up with shoes from Brazil or Taiwan and then my mom sneaks into my closet and steals them while I'm sleeping and—"

"Okay, okay. About the deal?"

"Right: I'll go on this fake date with you _if _you get my heels back from the T3."

Daniel had no idea how he was going to convince the Terrible 3 to hand over Maddie's shoes, but this was her only condition to going on the date, and it was pretty generous of her. She could have asked for something much worse, like public humiliation (as if he didn't already get enough of that from Jax), but all she wanted was a pair of shoes. He'd find a way to make it happen. "Okay, I'll get them back for you. But not first; the earliest would be Sunday night. The T3 is staying with my grandma for the weekend and she lives in—"

"Shoes upfront or no deal."

"Maddie, I promise I will get you your shoes back. I just can't until Sunday night."

"But I have a date with Proxy on Saturday night, I'm wearing this outfit," she motioned to her flowery dress and cardigan, "and those heels are the only shoes that work perfectly with it. Besides—how do I know you won't double cross me?"

"Diego would think you looked perfect if you showed up in a burlap sack. And double crossing? Really? That sounds more like something _you _would do."

"Hmm…" She tapped her chin, considering. "Those _are_ valid points…"

"Exactly. So just go on this one fake date with me so Jax and Emma think we're together, and then I'll get you your shoes back ASAP. Deal?"

She contemplated it for a moment longer before conceding, "Okay, deal. But you better not deceive me! Otherwise, I'll have Soph take pictures of you and…" She stifled a laugh. "…Janis next time you're both stalking Emma and Jax, and I'll send them to Miss Information." She glanced away then added, "And the cops."

"Don't worry." Daniel shook hands with his ex-girlfriend to seal the deal then showed himself out of her room.

On his way through the living room, he noticed Maddie's mother, Ursula, sitting on the sofa. She was hunched over what appeared to be a map-like piece of paper. "Hey, Mrs. Van Pelt. Whatcha doin'?"

"Oh, hi, Daniel. Just studying a blue print of Franciscy-Winky's house—uh, I mean, Mall of America—so I know which spot would be best for spying on him—uh, which stores are closest to the restrooms." Ursula sat up straighter and smoothed out her dress. "MOA is on my bucket list and I—"

"Sophie would tell you to hide in a tree, but personally…" Daniel leaned in close and whispered as if they were making a drug deal, "I recommend Jan—uh, the kitchen window."

Ursula's red-lipstick-coated mouth formed a perfect O shape. "Ohhhh, I hadn't thought of that…" She scanned the blue print with her manicured index finger until she found the kitchen window. Then she examined all the great angles the window would allow her to see and nodded. "You're right; it's perfect. Thanks!"

"Anytime." He smiled and exited the house.

On the bicycle ride home, Daniel envisioned how tomorrow would go. He and Maddie would show up to the zoo holding hands. They'd lovingly feed each other snacks from the many food stands, take selfies on the sky ride, and gush over each other's every word. They would be the textbook definition of the perfect couple. Jax would think Daniel was suave, Emma would get jealous, and Demma would be back together all before the day was done.

This trip was going to be perfect; he could feel it.

And it would be. Just not for him.

* * *

**And now I shall reply to some of the many lovely reviews I received.**

**Daddy Directioner: Yay I'm glad someone agrees with me! *kisses***

**ghostgirl19: I lahhhhv your reviews. *kisses* :D Glad you're enjoying the story so far. And don't worry, I don't plan to stop writing Jemma fics just because I may post a Jia fic. Jemma and Jia are each beautiful to me (under the right circumstances) and I love writing about each of them. :) Oh, and your thought about Daniel finding a gorilla to be with was beautiful. X'D I think you'll enjoy how things go at the zoo veeeery much. ;)**

**Guest (one of the guests, anyway): Glad you agree. The writers need to give Jaxy Waxy some love! Rahart is so right. I loveddd that tweet of his. Emma really was being like E, trying to change him. That was terrible. I liked him with E until she started being mean to him, then I was like NOPE NOPE you can go bye-bye now. Oh, and I also noticed our dear Danny Boy didn't say the L-word back. Because he sucks. :D**

**Guest (one of the other guests): Ahahaha thanks I love you too! And to answer your question: the show isn't like this because its writers hate our bae Jax and love stupid #MamasBoyMiller aka #mbm. The writers and I should sit down together sometime and change that. *thumbs up emoji***


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I'm thinking (not positive but pretty sure) this story will have six chapters, meaning we're halfway through. Oh, and glad you guys liked Janis. XD Here's Chapter 3. Enjoy. :)**

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Zoo Miami opened at 9:30 AM. It was on the other side of town, so Daniel made sure to show up at Maddie's thirty minutes early. He walked up to her front porch and rang the doorbell. She answered a minute later in a bright pink top and vanilla cotton shorts with little black arrows all over them. Her hair was loosely curled and on her feet were a pair of pink wedges.

"You look nice," he said.

She tensed up and glanced away uncomfortably. "I know." Usually she loved getting compliments, but hearing Daniel say that under these circumstances just felt wrong. It was bad enough she was stuck going on this fake date with him; she wasn't about to let him say boyfriend-y things to her in private, even if he was just trying to be nice. It made her feel… _guilty._

She shouldn't have agreed to do this. And she especially shouldn't have agreed to do this behind her boyfriend's back. If Diego found out what she was doing today, he would be furious. But more than that, he would be hurt. And Maddie never wanted to hurt him. She was new to this whole caring thing, and it sort of sucked, but it was also sort of nice.

"So, when it's time to go, you can ride on my handlebars—"

"Ewh!" Maddie exclaimed, grimacing at the bicycle. "I am not touching that thing."

"Why not?" he asked, immediately on the defensive. No one insulted his bicycle and got away with it! Well… except for everyone.

"Because! It's rusty and old and it'll ruin my shorts and someone could see us and tell Proxy and—"

"Like who?"

"Oh gee, I don't know, maybe his GOSSIP QUEEN SISTER!" Maddie couldn't believe how dumb Daniel was being. "And would you get it out of my yard? What if a tipster sees and tells Miss Information?"

"Where am I supposed to put it?"

"There's a Dumpster a couple blocks away—"

"MY BICYCLE WILL NEVER SET TIRE IN A DUMPSTER!" Daniel looked like he was about to cry; he was so passionate about this inanimate object.

If Maddie had felt uncomfortable before, she felt _really_ uncomfortable now. "How is it possible that you just became even _less _hunky…"

"Why don't you just cast a spell to transport it back to my house?"

Personally, Maddie would have preferred her Dumpster idea. But if it would make Daniel less emotional…

"Fine:

"_This bicycle's ugly_

_Just like a mouse_

_So now back it goes_

_To Daniel's house."_

Maddie twirled her finger then pointed at the bicycle. It disappeared from her lawn. "Come on," she said, hurriedly ushering Daniel inside then closing the door behind him. "MOTHER!"

Ursula ran downstairs and entered the living room, dressed in all black. But not Little Black Dress black; Stakeout black. She was wearing a ski cap, turtleneck, sweatpants, and tennis shoes. Around her neck was a pair of binoculars. "What is it, Maddie-Winky?"

The blonde girl wrinkled her nose. "Uch, what are you wearing?"

"Oh, this little number? It's just my new, uh, workout outfit."

"Okay, Mother? Dressing like that will not camouflage you in the mall. Mr. Alonso is still going to be able to see you."

"I'm not following him at the mall! I've moved on from that." She sent a very unsubtle wink Daniel's way. "Now what is it that you needed?"

"I need you to drive Daniel and me to Zoo Miami."

"Why?"

"We're going on a fake double-date with Emma and Jax. We have to spend the _whole day_ with them." She groaned at the very thought.

"Wait." Ursula hurried over to the pair and said, "You mean to tell me Francisco will be… home alone?"

"I guess so."

"All day?"

"Yeah, until 5:30."

A dreamy look appeared on the powerless witch's face, and then she dissolved into a pile of giggles and snorts. "Okay. Okay, that sounds marvelous."

Maddie thought to ask but then decided against it. "Let's just go."

The three piled into Ursula's pink SUV. Ursula and Maddie sat up front, leaving Danny Boy alone in the back.

"Remember, Mad—_DIE_!" Daniel split her name in half when Ursula came to an abrupt stop… for the fifteenth time. It was amazing they hadn't died yet. "We're supposed to be in love. So hold my hand and—_LAUGH!_—at all my jokes. Got it?"

The guilt and disgust in the pit of Maddie's stomach became too much for her to handle. "What's Joke #1?" she snapped. "The fact that you—_NAMED!_—a window?"

"Don't bring up Janis," he said through his teeth.

"Whatever."

"Do you want your shoes back or not?"

"DUCK!"

Daniel complied, assuming some sort of projectile was hurtling toward them. Given Ursula's (lack of) driving skills, there was a good chance they weren't even on the right street but rather headed for a shooting range. "What?! What is it?"

A few seconds went by then Maddie exhaled with relief and said, "It was a couple of girls from school."

"Are you kidding me?"

"No, they were walking super close to the car and these windows aren't tinted and—"

"I meant you made me duck for that? I thought it was something serious!"

Ursula stepped on the gas and both Maddie and Daniel were thrown back against their seats. She turned a corner and then they were on a new street. Zoo Miami was at the end of it.

She actually hadn't gotten lost.

Maddie turned around and death-glared at her ex-boyfriend. "That _was_ serious! If they would have seen you, they could have told Miss Information. And if Proxy finds out about this, you will have far bigger problems than the fact that you named a window. I promise."

"We're here!" Ursula announced, narrowly missing a street light pole as she turned into the parking lot. For some inconceivable reason, she decided to try parking between two other vehicles even though there were plenty of empty spaces all around her. She wound up hitting the vehicle on the left then shouting, "NEITHER OF YOU SAW THAT!"

"MOTHER! Just drop us off!"

"Right! I knew that!" She stepped on the brakes and let the two fake lovebirds climb out of the car.

"Pick us up here at 5:30," Maddie said, bracing herself as Daniel took her hand in his. A new wave of guilt worked its way through her. She changed her mind: caring about someone other than herself sucked.

"Well, I have a few errands to run, but I should be back by then."

"Should be? What could you possibly have to do that might take longer than eight hours?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all." She adjusted her ski cap then said, "Have fun!" before hitting the gas. Her tires spun as she backed up, almost ran over a couple of children, and high-tailed it out of the parking lot.

Maddie brought her free hand to her already-throbbing temple. This was going to be a long day…

"Oh, there they are!"

Maddie followed Daniel's gaze. He was looking over at the next section of parking spaces. Jax and Emma had just arrived on his dirt bike. He helped her with her helmet then she said something and he smiled and said something back and she laughed and then they gave each other The Look, the one that told Maddie they were in love for real.

Suddenly her heart ached. Seeing Jax and Emma like that made her miss her Proxy. They'd had a lot of fun last night. After devouring the pizzas and watching a few reruns of Maddie's favorite _America's Next Top Model_ cycle, Katie had done Sophie's makeup (she'd specifically asked for "koala whiskers"…) while Maddie read a skincare article to Diego straight out of the latest issue of _Teen Vogue_. He'd been so proud of her for reading a whole page that he promised to start exfoliating the moment he got home. And then, right before he left, he'd given her a kiss goodnight.

Maddie would have loved to enjoy it—and she had, a little—but she'd felt so uneasy because of her secret arrangement with Daniel. Why did those shoes have to be so dang irreplicatable?!

"Let's go," Daniel said, leading her over to Iridium High's golden couple. "Emma! Jax! How goes it?"

"Hi, Daniel," Emma said politely. She forced a smile at her nemesis and added, "Maddie."

The Head Panther made a face at her in response.

"What an interesting group we have here," Jax said in That Tone that meant he was about to make a smartass comment (read: his usual tone). "Let's see: we have a powerful witch, a powerful wizard, a mediocre witch, and a _human_. Three magical beings and one…" He looked Daniel up and down, unable to contain his grin (not that he was trying). "…you. You must feel out of place."

"Jax…" Emma admonished.

Daniel gently nudged Maddie, hoping she would get the hint to stand up for him like a good girlfriend would. But instead she yelled, "I am not mediocre!" then dropped Daniel's hand and crossed her arms over her chest. The stalker closed his eyes and inwardly groaned.

Jax laughed because he totally saw what had just happened. He took his girlfriend's hand, said, "Come on, Em," and led her toward the Zoo's entrance. "This sure is going to be a _fun_ eight hours."

Daniel and Maddie followed after them, not agreeing in the slightest.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I'm loving how I've actually been doing well at updating this story! It definitely helps that my sister is there for me as I work on, edit, and revise new chapters. She's lovely. :) Thank you guys for your reviews on Chapter 3. (To Torispeace: Thanks so much! :D) Here's Chapter 4. Enjoy!**

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Jax was known to be a lot of things. According to almost every girl on Planet Earth, he was good looking. According to Andi Cruz, he was annoying. According to Emma, he was a good wizard. (And according to him, Emma was perfect.) But the one thing he without a doubt was not was stupid.

Daniel may have kept a straight face yesterday in the hallway, but his story was just too ridiculous to be true. Jax had worked it out in his head last night while he was texting Emma. First of all, Maddie Van Pelt didn't exactly strike him as someone who recycled paper and plastic, let alone boyfriends. Second, Mr. Cheek Kisses sneaking around with his buddy's girl? That was just flat-out laughable. But disregarding both of those things was third: Miss Information. Diego's twin sister Gigi knew (and broadcasted) everything personal going on with everyone at IHS. Daniel and Maddie couldn't have been sneaking around even if they wanted to.

And Maddie clearly did not want to. Jax had spent practically the entire past three hours trying not to laugh. Every time Daniel tried to feed Maddie a French fry, she "politely" declined and fed it to the birds. Every time he stood a little too close to her, she flinched and sucked in a breath. Every time touched her (on the arm or some other non-hot place like that, of course), she shrugged him off on instinct then muttered something about shoes, composed herself, and let him replace his hand.

It was obvious Maddie was miserable and not into Daniel at all. So then why was she on this date with him? Jax fully intended to find out, but first he had to get her to admit she and Daniel weren't really together.

And there were plenty of ways for him to do that.

"Oh, hey, look over there," the Australian cutie said as the four of them exited their forth exhibit of the day, the penguin exhibit. "An old photo booth." He looked at Daniel and Maddie. "Pretty romantic, don't you think?"

"Definitely," Daniel said automatically, giving Maddie's hand a squeeze.

The color drained from the blonde's face. "Wait. A photo booth? As in, picture proof I was here? With _you_?" She looked at Daniel as if he were a cockroach.

Emma squealed and looked at her boyfriend, eyes sparkling with excitement. Gosh, her eyes were breath-taking... "We have to get pictures together. Then I can scrapbook them!"

Jax smiled down at her with his genuine smile. "Of course, love."

"Come on!" Emma ran over to the photo booth, pulling him along behind her.

While the two of them were being their adorable Jemma selves for the camera, Maddie removed her hand from Daniel's grip, placed her hands on her hips, and glared up at him. "I am _not_ taking pictures with you," she hissed.

"You have to," he hissed back. "Emma and Jax are doing it. If we don't, it'll look like we're not a real couple."

"That's because we're _not_ a real couple!"

"Yeah, but they have to think we are."

"I don't care what they think!"

"You care about your shoes, don't you?"

Maddie growled, suddenly wishing she were one of the lions they'd looked at earlier. If she were, she'd have broken out of her cage and killed Daniel on the spot.

"Look, I promise I will burn them the second I get home." Daniel's voice softened out of desperation. "Will you just do it? Please?"

Maddie closed her eyes and slowly exhaled. Her nerves were acting up so badly right now yet she still said, "Fine. But don't even think about taking a picture of the pictures with your phone. There will be one copy and one copy only, and I will hover over you as you burn it. Understood?"

"Understood."

A little _clunk_ noise sounded. It was the Jemma pictures being deposited from the photo booth. Daniel used his mad creeping skills to check out the photos before Emma or Jax could pick them up. There were four photos on the strip, all in black and white. The first was of Jemma smiling at the camera. The second was of Emma resting her head on Jax's shoulder, the way she usually did when they were cuddling on her couch. The third was of Jemma making funny yet somehow still attractive faces at the camera. And the forth was of them kissing on the lips. (Lame. Cheek kisses were much cooler.)

Emma jumped out from behind the curtain before Jax and grabbed the pictures. "Aweeee, we look so cute!" she said, showing her boyfriend.

"I think it's impossible for you to not look cute," Jax said, barely glancing at the photos. He was too caught up in the beautiful happiness radiating off of Emma in real time to pay attention to her expression in the photos.

"Same to you," she said, grinning from ear to ear.

Jemma kissed, Maddie tried not to gag, and Daniel tried not to cry. Maybe cheek kisses _weren't_ cooler…

When they broke away, Jax pulled the curtain back and grinned at Daniel and Maddie. "Your turn."

"Let's go, angel," Daniel said, practically dragging Maddie inside the booth.

Jax closed the curtain, moved so he was standing only a foot in front of Emma, and wrapped his arms around her waist. She raised her arms and placed them around his neck. "Great day, isn't it?"

"Yeah…" She bit her lip. "But I feel kind of bad."

"What do you mean?"

Emma shrugged. "It's just… I thought for sure Daniel was lying when he told you he was back together with Maddie. I thought he was just trying to make me jealous. But I guess that was kind of self-centered of me. I mean, did you hear him? He called her _angel_." She widened her eyes. "He must like her a _lot_ if he's calling her that."

So now Daniel was making _Emma_ feel guilty? Jax's Emma, who had done nothing wrong?

Jax forced a laugh. "Emma, don't worry; I thought the same thing. But I guess we were wrong. We had every reason to think he was lying, though. It was an understandable misunderstanding. Nothing self-centered about that."

"Thanks," she said with a smile. "I'm really happy for him. I mean, it's totally wrong they're doing this behind Diego's back and I hope they come clean soon. But I'm glad Daniel's finally moved on. He deserves to be with someone who makes him happy."

Actually, Daniel deserved to rot in detention for the rest of his cheek-kissing life. But Emma would never wish harm upon anyone, not even her moronic human ex-boyfriend who was using Diego's girlfriend in an attempt to make Emma break up with her boyfriend and go back to him. It was who she was. She almost always saw the best in people, even when the best was a lie.

Jax, on the other hand? Jax saw people for what they were. Which was why he saw Daniel as a pathetic, lying loser.

"And since I'm never going back to him…" Emma leaned up, eyes slowly closing.

Jax leaned down and kissed her, his anger toward Daniel immediately evaporating. It was difficult to think about how much he hated some lame bicycle-riding geek when his wonderful girlfriend just told him said lame bicycle-riding geek had zero chance of ever stealing her back then kissed him. He placed his hands on her face and deepened the kiss, letting this moment be theirs. It felt so, so good to be with the girl he loved and not worry about anyone ruining his relation—

A little _clunk_ noise brought him out of his thoughts. He broke the kiss and hurried over to grab the photos which had just been deposited. As soon as he saw them, he erupted into laughter. The first picture showcased Daniel smiling at the camera, arm around a grimacing Maddie. The second was Daniel leaning in for a cheek kiss but Maddie holding up her hands and leaning away, pure terror written all over her face. The third—

"GIVE ME THOSE!" Maddie screamed, ripping the photo strip from Jax's hand and shoving it into her bag. Her face was white as a sheet.

"That was fun!" Daniel tried, emerging from behind the curtain. He reached out for Maddie's hand but she yanked it away, screamed, "DON'T TOUCH ME!" and stalked off. Daniel hurried after her and Jemma followed, Jax amused, Emma confused.

"Maddie, wait—"

She whirled around. "I HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM!" she shouted in Daniel's face. She was so upset she was shaking. "Is that _okay_ with you? Am I _allowed_ to do that?"

"Uh, y-yeah," he said, clearing his throat. He forced a smile and said, "But hurry back. I'll miss you."

Maddie made a gagging noise, shoved past a crowd of people, and stormed into the ladies room.

"Is she okay?" Emma asked with concern.

"Yeah, Daniel," Jax said, making the most serious face he could muster. "Your _girlfriend_ didn't seem to enjoy you trying to kiss her." He imitated Maddie's horrified reaction from Picture #2 then cracked up.

Daniel's face went red. "She's just upset because I only brushed my teeth twice this morning instead of three times like she prefers. She'll be fine."

"Uh-huh." Jax crossed his arms, clearly not convinced. "Well, I'm hungry. And Maddie didn't seem to enjoy those French fries from earlier. Why don't you run along and grab us something to eat?" He nodded toward a pizza stand diagonally across from the restrooms.

"I'm pretty hungry myself," Emma added. "I don't blame Maddie; those French fries weren't too great…"

"Perfect!" Jax extracted a twenty dollar bill from the pocket of his cargo shorts and handed it to his girlfriend. "Em, you and Daniel can go get us a couple of pizzas."

Daniel stared at Jax, completely dumbfounded. Why would Jax _want_ him to be alone with Emma? _I guess I'm a pretty convincing liar, _he thought with pride.

Emma smiled, both touched and surprised. "Really?"

Jax nodded once. "Really."

She bit her lip, trying to contain her happiness. This was just like in _The Great Gatsby _when Tom had Daisy ride home with Gatsby because he finally believed Daisy was his and Gatsby was not a threat. It made Emma feel so good to know Jax trusted her alone with Daniel. She was glad her boyfriend had finally heard the truth of her words: she was never going back to Daniel; she was over him. She gave Jax a peck on the lips and said, "Will do." Then she started walking in the direction of the pizza stand, Danny Boy immediately on her heels.

Jax shook his head and chuckled to himself. "Too easy."

He walked over toward the restrooms and leaned against the water fountain between the two doors. A minute later, Maddie emerged from the ladies room. It looked like she'd been crying.

"Maddie Van Pelt." Jax smiled, crossed his arms, and walked toward her. "Just the mediocre witch I was looking for."

"I AM NOT MEDIOCRE!" She crossed her arms, too, and glared at him. "What do _you_—"

"Let's chat."

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**Please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Update: This story should actually be either eight or nine chapters long. It'll depend on the word count of the scenes I still have left to write. This chapter was almost 3,000 words but that's a lot more than most of the chapters for this story have been, so I cut off the next scene and made it into its own chapter. Thank you guys so much for your reviews on Chapter 4. They mean a lot. :) (****I'd like to mention a couple of reviewers in particular. To the guest who always bashes Daniel, your reviews literally crack me up. You're hilarious. XD And to ghostgirl19, I've actually updated _five_ days in a row now. :O Whaaaaat! Hehe. ^_^) **Here's Chapter 5. Enjoy!

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Maddie jutted out her chin and said, "Thanks, but I'd rather do anything else."

"Anything else, huh? Such as hold hands with your fake boyfriend, Daniel?"

The blonde opened her mouth but said nothing.

Jax smiled triumphantly. "Just as I suspected. He wants to make Emma jealous so she goes back to him, and he's using you to do it, right?"

She remained silent.

"What's he have over you? Did you steal something? Cheat on a test?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she said at last. "Daniel and I are totally together."

"Oh. Okay. So you won't mind if I call Diego and—"

"Don't!" Maddie exclaimed, trying to grab Jax's phone from his hands. But he held it just out of her reach.

"If you really love Daniel, why do you care if Diego knows you're here with him?"

"Because—" Maddie stopped and closed her eyes. Lower lip trembling, she shakily answered, "Because I do, okay?"

"What's he have over you?" Jax asked again, a tiny bit softer this time. He slipped his phone back into the pocket of his shorts to show he wasn't trying to be a jerk; he genuinely wanted to know. "Really."

The blonde stared at the roof above them. "You'll think it's stupid…"

"Since when do you care what I think?"

"Good point… Okay, fine. Back when Daniel and I were dating—for real—I had this pair of high heels. They were really cute and expensive and I got them before I knew I was a witch so I paid for them and everything." She took a deep breath. _No turning back now_… "One time when I was at his house, his mom had just cleaned the floor so she asked us to take our shoes off. We did then we went to his family room for a couple hours. He played video games and I did some online shopping.

"When it was time for me to leave, my shoes were gone. The T3 had hidden them somewhere. Daniel's mom had just gone on a grocery store run and his dad was still at work so there was no adult there to make them give me my shoes back. I just used magic to give myself a new pair of shoes to wear home, but I made Daniel interrogate the T3 every day for two weeks after that. They never told him what they did with my shoes. They even tried to say they forgot where they hid them." She rolled her eyes. "As if."

"What does any of that have to do with you coming here?"

"I told Daniel I'd pretend to be his girlfriend just for today if he promised to get my shoes back."

Jax blinked with confusion. "Why didn't you just use the locator spell?"

"I did! I tried a bunch of times but it never works for me."

_Mediocre. _"Okay, but wait: if the T3 wouldn't tell Daniel _before_…"

"I know, I know!" Maddie snapped. "It was a stupid deal. I just… He wouldn't quit bugging me to go on this date with him, even after I told him no like a thousand times, and—"

"Whoa whoa whoa. He was pressuring you to do something you didn't want to do?"

"Yeah, he kept at it for like twenty minutes."

Jax's hands curled into fists. He was immediately brought back to that one specific day at play practice. It was one of the first days after he'd given up his powers and he wasn't used to not being able to make things appear whenever he felt like it. Emma had been casting a bunch of spells for him all day, which was quite generous of her. By the time they got to play practice, Emma finally said no to one of his magical requests: making a hot dog cart appear. So Jax had playfully pressed _two times_ for her to change her mind. Two times.

Being the stalker he was, Daniel overheard this. And the second Emma left, he had to be an ass. _Didn't you hear her say no the first time?_* That was the line he'd pulled on Jax, and it was the line that still crossed his mind every once in a while to this day. And every time it did, he got pissed off all over again.

The way Daniel had said it—the way he'd _looked_ at Jax when he said it… He'd made it sound as if Jax had been pressuring Emma to do something sexual after she'd already said no, and Daniel was the heroic ex-boyfriend there to defend her honor.

Nothing could have been farther from the truth.

Sure, Jax didn't have a ton of respect for most people, but he wasn't a fucking rapist. He would never put _any_ woman in such an awful and inhumane position, but Emma… Jax cared about, respected, and _loved_ Emma Alonso so much, the very thought of any guy, let alone _himself_, doing that to her made him physically ill.

_Didn't you hear her say no the first time?_

Every time it crossed his mind, Jax had to resist the urge to murder Daniel.

Jax had tried to make Emma agree to magically make some food appear—something that was in no way sexual—_twice _after she said no. And now he was finding out Daniel had begged Maddie to pretend to be his girlfriend—meaning holding hands, touching, and being intimate with him when _she_ _didn't want to_—for _twenty minutes_ after she said no.

"Give me your pictures from the photo booth," Jax said, voice hard. He had been planning on using a spell to steal them from her bag once she left—it would have been a whole lot easier than getting her consent—but he suddenly wanted to prove that he knew how to do things the respectful way. Especially after the hell Daniel had put this girl through.

Up until a minute ago, Jax had thought it was funny how jumpy Maddie had been all day. But now that he'd been reminded of _Didn't you hear her say no the first time? _he realized nothing about it was funny. Maddie was most definitely not his favorite person, but she didn't deserve to be physically taken advantage of. No girl did. That was something Liana had taught Jax when he was very young and he'd lived by it ever since.

The blonde took a step back. "In your dreams!"

"Maddie, you have to trust me. If you give me the pictures, I can fix everything."

"How would—"

"_You have to trust me."_

Maddie stared at him for a long time before slowly reaching into her bag, extracting the pictures, and handing them over.

"Now, Daniel and Emma are ordering us some pizzas at that stand over there. You go and find the four of us a table. I'll be there in a minute."

"Wh-What are you going to do with the pictures?" Maddie asked, clearly not comfortable with them being in his possession.

"You have to tru—"

"Well I don't!"

Jax inhaled sharply. "What'd your shoes look like?"

"The ones I lost?"

"No, the ones you were wearing at school last Thursday. Yes, the ones you lost!"

"Well, they were sort of a maroon color with these really cute turquoise sparkles on the ankle straps and—"

Jax casted the locator spell in his head and a second later the shoes appeared in his free hand. They were in perfect condition and everything, free of any and all goo. "Boom."

The blonde's jaw dropped. "Oh my Panther! How'd you—"

"Ah ah." Jax held them out of her reach. "You get the shoes back under three conditions."

"Anything," she said without the slightest hesitation. She must have really loved these shoes…

"Condition #1: you have to stay here for the rest of the date. You can't leave early just because you've gotten what you wanted."

"Don't worry," she said flatly. "I can't leave whether you give me the shoes or not."

"What do you mean?"

"If I bail, Daniel will tell Diego I was here."

"He threatened to do that?"

"Well no, but that's what I'd do if I were him. Believe me, if I didn't think he'd tell Diego, I'd have left the second he tried to feed me those French fries. Even if it would have meant he wouldn't keep his end of the deal." She smiled sheepishly at her heels and mouthed, _Sorry._

"Well, the rest of this date will be much more enjoyable for you. Because Condition #2 is you stop letting Daniel do anything you're not comfortable with. If he tries to hold your hand, prove that you're the Head Panther of Iridium High and tell him off. Anything you don't like someone besides Diego doing, don't let Daniel do."

Maddie offered up a small, relieved smile. "Okay. And Condition #3?"

"Condition #3 is you stop asking questions about the pictures, go over there, and find us a table."

Maddie pressed her lips into a thin line. He _had_ gotten her shoes for her before knowing if she'd leave directly afterward. And they'd been gone for so long; she really did miss them…

"Promise you won't send the pictures to Diego."

"I promise I will not send the pictures to Diego."

"Alright, then we have a deal. Shoes!"

Jax handed the blonde her beloved heels. She squealed. "Mommy's missed you!" she said to the shoes before stuffing them in her bag and scurrying off to the pizza stand.

Once she was out of earshot, Jax added, "But I will send them to his sister." He took out his phone, snapped a picture of the pictures, and composed a new picture message to Miss Information. If his plan worked, everyone except for Daniel would end up happy.

And it obviously would; Jax always won in the end, after all.

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***I haaaated that line of Daniel's in "About A Wizard." I don't know if it came across this way to anyone else, but from my view, that scene definitely seemed like they were trying to liken Jax to some sleazy, douchey guy at a party who was trying to pressure Emma into sleeping with him and Daniel to the hero who steps in and stands up for the girl. So terribly inaccurate. The writers have really got to stop trying to make bae look bad. It's an impossible task; he's Jax Novoa, our rebel with a halo (got that phrase from a Selena Gomez song and it is so perfect for Jax).  
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**Please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: This chapter was sorta short in comparison to some of the others, so I decided to reply to a bunch of the many fantastic reviews you lovelies left me at the end. It took the word count up quite a bit. XD I reeeeally like tomorrow's chapter. It's the longest one yet: nearly 3,000 words. I know I split up Chapter 5 when it was getting close to 3,000, but I won't be doing that with Chapter 7. Chapter 7 doesn't switch locations like Chapter 5 would have. BUT ANYWAY, here's Chapter 6. Enjoy! :)  
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It was an average Saturday afternoon at The Seven, the local pizzeria where most of Iridium High's student body hung out with friends, went on dates, and occasionally studied. In other words: business was booming. The Rueda twins were manning the counter together—or at least they had been until Diego had disappeared ten minutes ago.

"Diegooo! Get out here!" Gigi whined over her shoulder. She was capable of handling a packed restaurant alone, but it was a whole lot easier when she had a helping hand. The work phone would ring, then someone would walk up to the counter and ask for a refill, and there were still six pizzas she hadn't even started making yet. (Not to mention she may or may not have been trying to juggle Miss Information at the same time.)

"DIEGO!"

"Calm down! I'm right here." Her brother emerged from the back room. A familiar mint green goop was all over his face. "What do you need?"

Gigi tilted her head and gave him her best Disappointed Parent face. "Okay: why?"

"Exfoliating is good for the skin. You should know that; I got the mask from your bathroom."

"That's not what I meant! I meant why are you exfoliating at work?"

"Why do you have your phone out at work?"

"When do I not have my phone out?"

"True." Diego shrugged and said, "Because I told Maddie I'd start."

_Cha-CHING!_

Gigi's phone played the text tone she had set for anons, which meant a tipster had just sent in a new piece of gossip to Miss Information. She grabbed her phone off the counter space directly in front of her (her phone was literally never more than a foot away from her, ever) and went to her inbox.

**From: Anonymous**

**Maddie Van Pelt and Daniel Miller are out on a date at Zoo Miami. Been here since 9:30 AM; will be here until closing at 5:30 PM.**

**[VIEW PICTURE]**

"I tried it last night before I went to bed, and it felt so nice I decided to do it again before our date tonight. I can't wait to tell her. She'll be so impressed."

But Gigi barely heard a word her brother said. She was pretty sure her heart stopped the moment she saw the picture. "Uhh, Diego? You might want to stop doing things to impress her…"

He crinkled his eyebrows as he walked around the counter to go clear a newly empty table. "Why?"

"Because she's cheating on you!"

He scoffed. "She is not."

"Yes she is! Look! She's out on a date with Daniel right now!"

"WHAT?!" Diego and his exfoliation-masked face nearly jumped over the counter to get to Gigi and her phone. Sure enough, there on her screen was a picture of a photo strip containing four shots of Maddie and Daniel.

But something was off. Every time Diego took pictures with Maddie, she looked happy and at ease. In all of these shots, she looked terrified and desperate to keep Daniel away from her. That wasn't how she'd looked in the selfie they'd taken that day the lightning storm had trapped them at Daniel's house…

"Maddie hates the zoo…" Diego was half thinking out loud, half speaking to Gigi. "She can't stand the smell. Why would she go there with Daniel?"

"Easy," Gigi said with a shrug. "Jax and Daniel won the school-wide raffle. I'm sure Jax took Emma; Daniel must have taken Maddie. I was going to find out who they were taking this upcoming week at school, but…" Then she gasped. "Wait a minute. Principal Alonso told me the trip got moved to next weekend! He lied to me!" She crossed her arms, offended by their principal's relentless (and futile) attempts to shut down her gossip queen behaviors.

And then she realized something. "But... I already made a blog post saying the date had been changed. So that means I…" The horror was written all over her face. _"_…_misinformed_ my followers! But I'm never wrong! Quick, give me my phone back!"

"Wait a minute!" Diego held the phone out of her reach, annoyed with (yet used to) how easily she was distracted by her blog. "Back to Maddie: you're suggesting she's willingly spending the entire day with Daniel, Jax, _and _Emma?"

"Exactly."

"She would never do that."

"Sure she would. Because she's cheating on you."

"STOP SAYING THAT! There's no way…" Maybe most people in school thought Maddie was capable of cheating, but Diego knew the real her. There was no way Maddie would ever do something like that to him. And why would Daniel even want to—

"Wait." Diego looked at his sister. "Daniel's still hung up on Emma."

Gigi awkwardly raised her eyebrows and examined her nails. "Or so we thought…"

"No, stay with me! _What if_ Daniel's using Maddie to try and make Emma jealous?"

"Maddie would never agree to help Daniel."

"Gigi, do you see her face in these pictures?" He waved the phone around in his sister's face. "She's clearly not happy to be there!" And then an awful, angry feeling materialized in his stomach. "Dude. What if Daniel's blackmailing her?"

"Daniel Miller? Blackmailing Maddie Van Pelt? With what?"

"I don't know but I'm gonna find out!" He dropped her phone on the counter, threw off his apron, and stormed toward the exit.

"Wait!" Gigi called after him. "You can't leave me here by myself! We're busy!"

"You're not coming with me?" he asked coyly.

"I—"

"Gigi, as Miss Information, it's your duty to get to the bottom of this. This is your chance to redeem yourself to your followers! I mean, why update your blog with one stupid picture and an apology admitting _you were wrong _when you can get an exclusive interview from the scene of the crime? I think your followers would be much more forgiving if you took the second approach. I know I would be."

Gigi's jaw dropped, just as Diego had known it would. "You're right! I have to get down there to regain my credibility!" She pressed a few buttons on her phone, held it to her ear, and waited. "Sebastian, pick me and Diego up in front of The Seven ASAP. And bring Camera 3! We have a _major_ scoop to get." She hung up then followed her brother toward the exit.

"Hold up there," some kid Gigi didn't recognize as an IHS student said—and she would have recognized him if he was one; she knew the name of every student in every grade at her school. "Where do you two think you're going?"

"An emergency came up and—"

"We're still waiting on our pizzas," the kid complained, motioning to himself and the five other people standing around him. They nodded behind their self-appointed leader.

"Uhh…" Gigi looked around until her eyes randomly landed on a short guy standing near the counter. He was sporting nerd glasses, a few zits, and a beard. Good enough. "Hey, stranger! You're in charge!" She whipped her apron in his direction. It hit him in the face but he quickly recovered, smirked, and sidled up to the cash register.*

The Rueda twins didn't even notice. Diego exclaimed, "Come on!" and they were out the door, headed for the curb outside The Seven to wait on Sebastian. Diego tried to hold in his anger. He was going to need it to fuel him when they got to Zoo Miami. Daniel had best stop whatever stunt he was trying to pull with Maddie, because when Diego got his hands on his now ex-friend, one of them wasn't going to make it out alive.

And that person would not be Diego.

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***I got the idea for that whole paragraph from an early Austin & Ally episode called "Kangaroos & Chaos." XD**

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**Please review!  
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**And now to respond to some reviews. ^_^**

**Jamie: Awe! *kisses* I've known of that song for a long time but I listened to it again since you mentioned it, and it really is fitting for that situation!**

**anubisd101: Keeeeep readiiiing. ;)**

**delightisadream: Lmao dude I love you. X'D**

**Anonymous Girl: Ahahaha thank you so much! *kisses* :D**

******HOAMixerFan, hey hey hey,** and **Guessssstttttttt: Glad you're enjoying the story! :D**

**Torispeace: As you saw this chapter, you were very much correct. ;) Wait until the final chapter; you'll see you're even more correct. ;D Oh and YAS for real! Glad we're on the same page! Jax is the bae. *emoji hearts***

**Daddy Directioner: No worries, I thought you reviewed quickly! But please never feel like you have to rush; I appreciate that you even review at all. Thanks so much for all your reviews. ^_^ And keeeep readiiiing. ;)  
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**Aipom4: Dude you have to be right because, as I saw someone else point out, the only thing they actually resolved by the finale was Maddie's s2 storyline. We don't know what happened between Jax and his dad, if Emma found out about Jax's dad, and gosh we just don't freaking know anything and we have to wait until January for s3 and who knows if it'll even answer any questions from s2…Anyone who has Twitter, tweet to the show's writer cathledeboer about this! She replies to fans which means she reads what we tell her we want to see in s3! Doesn't necessarily mean she'll put it in the show but she could! SOMEONE PLEASE TWEET TO HER THAT WE WANT EMMA TO GENUINELY FEEL BAD FOR BREAKING JAX'S HEART AND APOLOGIZE TO HIM! Please! But anyway: since we have to wait until January for s3, it's a good thing we have fanfiction. :)**

**guest: 100% agreed. Sometimes I would get angry at the writers of the show Pretty Little Liars because I felt like they just made certain couples happen because it's what a lot of the fans wanted, even if it wasn't good. BUT IN THE CASE OF JEMMA, WHERE THEY BELONG TOGETHER AND IT _IS_ GOOD AND WE CAN SEE IT BUT THE WRITERS CAN'T, the EWW writers should definitely listen to us! I mean, look at the facts: 1) Most stories on here are pro-Jax/Jemma. 2) Daniel is the one who got pranked because most of us voted for him to be the T3's victim instead of our bae. 3) Jemma is STILL beating out Demma on the Nick app's Jemma vs. Demma poll. Like, EWW writers? Yeah wake up, Jax is bae, we love him, and Emma and you guys need to, too. *victory hand emoji***

**To the truly endearing anon who flamed me, thanks for wasting your time. I stopped reading your "review" once I got to the part where you called me a bitch and then I removed it (and I'll remove any other flames you post, too, if you post any more). For future reference, if you like a character and an author specifically says in his/her story summary that nothing good will happen to said character, I recommend you skip over that story. Lots of people in this fandom dislike Daniel a hell of a lot more than I do, so you should probably just stop with the flames and go do something productive. :)**

**5secondsofwerewolves: Ahhhh dude! Omg thank you so much! That means so much to me! I've been updating daily, in the evenings (eastern time). :D *kisses***

**ghostgirl19: Every time I update, I eagerly await a review from you. :D Ahh yay I'm glad you liked it! Now you know what Jax's message to Miss Info was; the new question is, why did he compose it the way he did? Answer: Jax Novoa is extremely cunning. ;) Just wait for the last chapter! Dude I know, that line was just so unbelievably uncalled for. It's just like, "Bitch, he don't need no powers to whoop yo ass!" (My attempt at sounding tough. *thumbs up* XD) For real though, Jax is already so much better than Daniel, and it was so clear in "Emma Wants A Cracker" that Daniel felt SUPER inferior when he found out Jax was a magical being like Emma. He was just like, "DAMMIT he wins." meanwhile I'm here like, "Pssh, you really needed to find out he has magic to realize he's better than you, bro?" Anyway: thanks so much for your review! *kisses***

**Guest: Oh I agree completely. And the hilarious part is it totally backfired. Look at how indignant we got over what they did to our Jaxy Waxy. We only love and sympathize with him even more now. Meanwhile the writers clearly love Daniel and we're here like YUCK NO #MBM GO AWAY. They're really bad at making us hate/love the same characters as them. X'D**

**ProfessionalInterneter: Ahhh thank you so much! *monkey covering eyes with hands emoji* Your review made me smile so much! I respect you right back, my friend! *kisses* You're really right about how much they've been stalked. My younger sister was like, "Maybe Emma's mom dodged a bullet. I mean if she was alive, who knows how many people would be stalking them." X'DDD I'm glad you liked my execution of our bae showing Miss Head Panther his softer side. :D Btw, by chance, was your pen name inspired by Jenna Marbles? For some reason I feel like she's used the term "interneter" before. Not positive but either way your awesome pen name reminded me of her. :D**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: It exceeded 3,000 words! Omg! Since this is already so long, instead of replying to specific reviews, I'll just say thank you guys for reviewing (some of your reviews amused me XD) and I'm glad you liked Chapter 6. Here's Chapter 7. I**** really like it and I hope you guys do, too. ** Warning: in case you plan on flaming me, I've already clearly stated in this story's summary that nothing good will happen to Daniel. That's especially true in this chapter, so if you don't like that, get out. *thumbs up* To everyone who _does_ like that—and to everyone who likes Jemma being cute & sexy—enjoy! ;D

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To say things started looking up after Jax and Maddie's little conversation would be a major understatement. Now that Daniel didn't have the upper hand, Maddie wasn't holding back her Head Panther-ness. At. All. In the past thirty minutes, she'd insulted him twice, slapped his hand away three times, and flat-out laughed in his face four times. Jax would know; he was keeping track, not to mention loving every second of it.

Emma didn't think anything was out of the ordinary. She just assumed Maddie was being... Maddie. While Emma and Daniel had waited on the pizzas (which Maddie had threatened to smash in Daniel's face), Daniel had made it a point to talk about nothing but how great Maddie was. Emma figured he must really be in love with the girl. Nothing else explained his sudden change of heart.

Either way, Emma was relieved he wasn't pining for her anymore. It was a major weight off her shoulders. Jax had sworn to her last week while they were cuddling on her couch that he'd seen someone outside her kitchen window. Emma wasn't sure if he was joking or not, but—and she'd never admit this to anyone—she'd immediately suspected Daniel. He'd become pretty creepy these past few months, and Andi had a joke about him being in love with that window… He'd really been starting to freak Emma out. But she realized now that Jax, Andi, and she all must have been wrong.

Thankfully.

"Well would you look at that," Jax said, observing a water play section of the zoo. Mini water slides and shallow kiddie pools for children under the age of twelve were placed next to each other. Small children swam, splashed, and squealed as they enjoyed themselves in the water. Off to the sides on the patio were tanning chairs where adults and teens were lounging out, chatting, and keeping an eye on the young ones.

"Aweee, that family on the left with the baby is so cute," Emma gushed.

"What do you want with a bunch of children, Jax?" Daniel snarled. It was majorly obvious he was butthurt because Maddie was painting her nails as they walked rather than allowing him to hold her hand. "Gonna try to corrupt them, too?"

Jax didn't get to offer a retort to that nonsense comment because Emma responded first.

"_Too_?" she asked, clearly offended. "What are you saying?"

Daniel's eyes widened. "N-Nothing, Emma, I—"

"You're saying Jax corrupted _me_?"

"No! I didn't mean—"

"Well guess what?" The usually sweet and gentle girl took a threatening step toward her ex-boyfriend. He took a cowardly step back. "Jax has not corrupted me. In order for him to do that, he'd have to be corrupt himself. Which he's not. He's amazing. I know you don't like him, but that doesn't mean you have to bring ridiculous accusations against him. I don't like Maddie but I've listened to you talk about what a goddess she is all day." Under her breath she added, "No matter how much I disagree…"

"HEY!" Maddie snapped.

"Emma—"

"The point is, Jax is nothing but wonderful to me, and I've been nothing but respectful to you and your girlfriend since we got here. So for you to accuse us of being bad people is really not okay. Just cool it."

Jax smiled, proud of Em for standing up for herself. It was something he'd taught her to do. And of course it was adorable she'd stood up for him, but Jax didn't need defended; he couldn't care less what Daniel thought of him.

Maddie started on her second coat of polish and said, "Woooow. She told _you_ off."

Daniel sulked and muttered, "Whatever…" under his breath.

Emma walked over to Jax and gave him a kiss.

"Awwww, how cute," Maddie cooed, half sarcastically because they were making her miss her Proxy again, half in an attempt to piss Daniel off even more. It worked; he held his hands out to her in frustration. She flashed him her brightest smile then returned her focus to her nails.

"You know, Daniel, I was only going to point out that those secluded chairs underneath the sun umbrella in the back would make a wonderful make out spot. I wasn't even looking at the children, let alone thinking of hurting them." Jax lowered his voice and said, "Do you have a _problem_ we don't know about?"

"Pedophiiiile," Maddie sing-songed.

"I AM NOT A PEDOPHILE!" Daniel shouted.

Everyone in the vicinity turned to stare. A nearby couple quickly ushered their children away from the group of four.

Maddie chuckled as she switched hands. "Hashtag judging."

Daniel's face had officially invented a new shade of red.

"So that make out spot," Jax said, relooping the conversation because he absolutely could not pass up the perfect opportunity for 1) a make out session with his Em and 2) driving Daniel even further into the ground—if that was possible. "How 'bout it?"

"Let's go," Daniel said through his teeth. He grabbed Maddie's wrist and tried to drag her toward the pool's entrance, but she screamed, "SECURITY!" and he quickly let go.

By this point, Emma was completely done with Daniel for the day. Ignoring him and his immature ways, she smiled up at her boyfriend and said, "Sounds great." Her cheeks tinted a soft pink.

Jax smiled at how beautiful she was when she blushed. It made her glow even more than usual. "Then it's settled. Let's go."

Jemma led the way. Daniel made sure he and Maddie were far enough behind that they wouldn't be overheard.

"What the hell is your problem?" he hissed venomously. "You're making me look like an idiot!"

"Uh, correction: _you're_ making _yourself_ look like an idiot. You have been all day."

"Maddie, I kid you not, I am this close to never mentioning your shoes to the T3 ever again."

"Okay," she said with a shrug.

"Okay?!"

"Yep. If you aren't going to keep your end of the deal, then I guess I can go home—"

"No no no!" Daniel grabbed her wrist again but she yanked it away and said in the most intense voice he'd ever heard her use, "You will _never_ grab me anywhere ever again. Do you understand me?"

"Maddie—"

"I'm serious, Daniel. There are guards stationed all over this place. All I have to do is scream and—"

"Maddie, I'm sorry, okay?" Daniel had tears in his eyes. Shocking. "I wasn't trying to—"

"Oh I know you weren't. You're far too busy trying to fuck up someone else's relationship to be trying anything with me. But just so you know, you're wasting your time. Emma and Jax are in love and nothing you do is going to change that. I can tell." Maddie Van Pelt twisted the top back on her nail polish bottle, dropped it in her bag, and walked ahead to catch up with Jemma at the gate.

Daniel was shell-shocked. He'd never heard Maddie swear once, let alone drop the F-bomb. And since when was she Jemma's advocate?!

Whatever. It didn't matter. Daniel hurried to catch up with his… They really weren't his friends… as they walked through the gate. A security guard checked all of their wrists for their admission bracelets, gave Daniel a weary look (he must have heard the defensive claim Daniel had made about not being attracted to children), then told them they could go inside.

Maddie pushed past Jemma, dove onto one of the chairs in the area Jax had mentioned, and sighed with bliss. "This is perfect. After all that walking, I could use a rest." She laid her hands out, palms down and fingers apart, so as to avoid messing up her nails. Then she closed her eyes and dozed off.

Daniel immediately started to panic. No. This was bad. Maddie needed to be awake because—

"Come here, Em," Jax said, leading his girlfriend to the chair to the right of Maddie's. It was the furthest back in the corner, directly underneath the umbrella, meaning it was the one best hidden by the shade. Jax sat down in the middle of the chair and Emma sat on his lap.

"I've told you how beautiful you look in purple, right?" he asked in a low, sexy voice, playing with a lock of her perfectly straight hair. Emma was wearing a bright purple romper with little white flowers all over and a pair of dark brown gladiator sandals. Jax thought the outfit looked absolutely stunning on her.

Emma giggled as the inevitable blush heated up her face. "Yes, only about fifty times since you picked me up this morning."

"Good. Then it should be impossible for you to forget." Jax's hand traveled from her hair to her face. He traced her jaw line with his thumb then gently guided her face toward his. Their lips met and the ever-present Jemma fireworks went off. Emma's hands moved to Jax's face and she deepened the kiss. Ten seconds later, they were full-on making out. She had one hand in his hair and one on the back of his neck; he had one hand behind her head and one on her thigh. Up until Jemma started dating, Emma had never made out with anyone. But she'd gotten pretty good at it these past few months. Obviously; it was kind of impossible not to with Jax Novoa as her guide.

From the other side of Maddie's chair, Daniel stared. He didn't sit down. He didn't look away. He didn't pretend to text (who would he pretend to text, anyway? Diego? His mom?). He _stared_.

Once, when Daniel was eight, his parents took him and Robbie to see the Northern Lights. They were almost to their destination when they witnessed a head-on collision between a Subaru and a Sedan. It was bad. Worse than bad; it was terrible. There was blood everywhere and voices screaming and crying and Daniel had wanted to look away, he'd wanted to look at anything else, but it was so upsetting that he _couldn't. _

This was the Northern Lights Collision 2.0: Jemma Edition.

Even worse: cheek kisses were definitely out. The way Emma and Jax were making out made that perfectly clear. Since when did Shy, Awkward, Glittery Emma know how to kiss like that?! And since when did she put her hands all over a guy when she kissed him?! She'd never done that with Daniel! Not that Daniel had even known up until right now it was something couples _did_…

If Jax's hand inched any closer to the hemline of Emma's romper…

Daniel tapped Maddie's arm urgently. When she opened her eyes and glared at him, he whispered, "Kiss me."

"No way!" she hissed.

"Come on, we had a deal!"

"I'm not cheating on Proxy!"

"Just one kiss!"

_"Daniel thinks he's sly_

_Just like a pet cat_

_I'll teach him who's boss_

_Give me a smoothie, stat!"_

A smoothie (strawberry; Maddie's fave) appeared in her hand. She sat up, tore the lid off the top, and threw the blended drink in Daniel's face.* It dripped down onto his white T-shirt and unbuttoned plaid button-up, most likely staining both articles of clothing.

Jax and Emma didn't notice. They were far too consumed with each other by this point to even remember who Daniel Miller was.

"Back. Off." Maddie tossed the empty smoothie cup over her shoulder, laid back down, and returned to her nap.

Since the trance had been broken and he was no longer stuck staring at NLC 2.0, Daniel decided to do just about the only thing he could that didn't involve crying. He shrugged off the button-up, pulled the T-shirt over his head, used the inside of it to wipe the smoothie residue off his face, and walked over to the kiddie pool. He had some antibacterial hand sanitizer in his shorts pocket; it would have to act as soap. Washing his clothes in the men's restroom would have been more efficient, but no way was he about to leave the group. If he did, chances were he'd come back to find they had left him.

Daniel knelt down at the pool's edge, put his shirts in the water, and extracted the sanitizer. He'd just squirted a decent sized amount onto his T-shirt when someone hollered, "HEY!" He turned to see a different security guard storming his way. Oh great. What could this possibly be about?

"Is there a problem, sir?"

"Yeah, there's a problem!" the man said, stopping at Daniel's right and placing his hands on his hips. "I'm Officer Harold, head of Zoo Miami security. I just found out the guard up front let you in here. You're the guy who was yelling about not being a pedophile. I can't have you in the water section with a bunch of children!"

"B-But I'm not a pedophile! I swear!"

"Yeah, and Miley Cyrus is a virgin. Let's go." He grabbed Daniel's arm and pulled him to his feet.

"Wait! I'm with those kids over there! We're here as a group for a school thing! See?" He fumbled to turn his wrist band to the place where it was marked specifically to say he was here as a part of the IHS raffle. "We have to stay in a group! So you kick me out of the water section, you have to kick them out, too."

Officer Harold squinted over at the darkened corner. "You mean the sleeping blonde and the passionate couple who can't keep their hands off each other?"

"Sure," Daniel said through his teeth.

"Well, I hate to throw out a couple of high school sweethearts, but it seems you've ruined everything for everyone. Come with me."

Daniel scrambled to grab his shirts from the pool. Once he did, Officer Harold took him by the arm and dragged him back to the corner.

"Excuse me, youngins," the man said to the three of them. Maddie's eyelashes sleepily fluttered as she opened her eyes. Jemma reluctantly broke away from each other, Emma blushing profusely, Jax scowling at the man for interrupting them. "Are you all here as part of the Iridium High School raffle?"

"Yeah…," they reluctantly muttered. They could tell by the officer's tone this wasn't going to end well.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid you're going to have to leave the water play area. Your friend here can't be trusted around small children."

Maddie and Jax erupted into laughter while Emma's face drained of all color. She looked like she was about to cry. "Oh my gosh, Daniel, what did you _do_ to them?!"

"NOTHING!" he shouted, beyond pissed by how ridiculous this was. "I was just trying to wash my shirts—"

"Feel free to explore other parts of the zoo," Officer Harold went on. "Just not parts where there are children in bathing suits. Sound fair?"

"No!" Daniel yelled, exasperated. Not that he wanted Jax and Emma to stay here and continue making out. It just wasn't fair he was being accused of pedophilia!

"Of course," Emma said in an apologetic tone, bringing herself to her feet and taking Jax's hand. "Come on, babe."

Maddie huffed, grabbed her bag, and stood, as well. "I was just starting to enjoy that nap, too…"

The man escorted them out of the water play section, keeping a firm grip on Daniel's arm until they were a safe distance away. He stopped near the end of the line for the sky ride.

"Thank you so much for not kicking us out of the zoo altogether, Officer," Emma said.

"We're so sorry about…" Jax motioned to a rigid Daniel. "…that."

"He's not your fault. Have a nice day." Officer Harold gave them a smile (well, he gave Jemma and Maddie a smile) then walked back to his station.

"Good one, Daniel," Jax said. "Getting us kicked out of the _children's water play area_. I think that's what I'll tell Mr. Alonso I liked best about this trip."

"I didn't do anything wrong," the outcast spat, growing angrier by the second. "The only reason I even went over to the pool was to wash my shirts because Maddie threw a smoothie on me!"

"Uh, yeah, because you were trying to force yourself on me!"

Emma's mouth dropped. "You were _what?!_"

"I just wanted to kiss her!"

"And you wouldn't take no for an answer when I told you I wasn't going to cheat on my Proxy!" Maddie crossed her arms over her chest.

"Wait." Emma's eyebrows crinkled. To her left, Jax smirked. This was it. She was finally going to put the pieces together. "I thought you two…"

"Are you guys in line?"

_Dammit!_

The IHS students turned to see a group of six girls and guys who looked about their age standing behind them. Only then did the foursome realize it looked as though they were standing in line for the sky ride, except there was a large gap between them and the people in front of them.

"Oh, no, we—"

"Yes," Jax interrupted his girlfriend, suddenly getting an idea. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and smiled his thanks at the group of strangers. "Yes, we are." The sky ride went all the way from one end of the zoo to the other. With tensions running as high as they were right now, being in that secluded of a space for three whole minutes almost guaranteed Maddie would blurt the truth or Emma would figure it out herself. And by the time they got off the sky ride, a certain pair of twins should be here. One twin would kick Daniel's ass on camera while the other got the inside scoop on his douchebaggery and exposed him to all of Iridium High.

Sometimes even Jax wondered how he was so brilliant.

"Come on, love." He stepped forward to close the gap between himself and the people ahead, Emma right beside him. Jax motioned for Maddie to follow their lead. She discreetly nodded and complied, leaving Daniel no choice but to do the same.

"I didn't know you wanted to go on the sky ride," Emma said with a surprised smile.

"Of course I do," her boyfriend said. Aside from trying to bust Daniel, Jax had another motive for doing this. "Cuddling with my Em while we look at the beauty of nature... I don't know which view will be more breath-taking."

"Aweee!" Emma couldn't contain her touched reaction. "You are literally the sweetest boyfriend ever, Jax Novoa."

"Only because you're the sweetest girlfriend ever, Emma Alonso."

The two shared a kiss (a cute one; not a heated one like back at the water play area) and Maddie tilted her head. She looked at Daniel and said, "Not gonna lie: I think I'm starting to ship Jemma."

Daniel could do nothing but blink. He kept his lips sewn shut, moved forward each time the rest of the line did, and tried not to hit anything. _This day cannot possibly get any worse,_ he thought to himself.

Oh, how wrong he was.

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***As you can see, ghostgirl19, I used your strawberry smoothie idea. ;D  
**

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**Two more chapters left! Please review!**

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**The link to my first EWW fan video is in my profile! Check it out if you'd like and please leave a YouTube comment telling me what you thought, or mention it in your review. :)  
**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Oh my goodness, you guys. I was fighting with Windows Live Movie Maker for hours since like 3:00 AM (minus time to sleep but I probably even had nightmares about it and just don't remember). In other words, I was preoccupied today and didn't focus solely on writing this chapter, so it took a while to get it completed and revised. But it's done now! I'm not sure when Chapter 9 will be up, if not tomorrow then probably sometime on Monday. I haven't even started on it yet and I want to take my time to make sure it's as great as it can be because, hello, it's the explosive conclusion to this story! Gotta get it right! Anyway, here's Chapter 8! Enjoy!**

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If there was one thing the past thirty-five minutes had taught Sebastian the Camera Guy, it was that being trapped in a car with the Rueda twins when they were both panicking was flat-out frightening. He didn't live far away from The Seven but it had taken him ten minutes to make it over today. It wasn't his fault there was a traffic jam on this particular Saturday, but Gigi and Diego seemed to believe otherwise. Once they'd gotten in the car, Gigi had one of her usual blogger meltdowns while Diego loudly used a string of choice words to express himself. He was usually a pretty chill guy, so needless to say, Sebastian was terrified.

Fast forward twenty-five minutes to now: the group of three was only five minutes away from their destination but the traffic jam was keeping them trapped in one spot. It was also making the twins' "issues" escalate quickly and Sebastian was getting extremely nervous.

"What if they're gone by the time we get there?" Gigi said to no one in particular, tapping her hand against the passenger's side window. It was sort of a nervous tick. "What if something came up and they had to leave early? What if we show up and they're gone and I have to be all, 'Hey followers, I know you were depending on me, but I let you down in a major way and all I have to make up for it is a PICTURE.'?" She slammed her head against the window and groaned. "I'm dooooomed!"

"Would you shut up?!" Diego snapped from the back seat. Both Gigi and Sebastian turned to stare at him, appalled. "Your blog will be fine; my Maddie might not be!" He'd called and texted her a billion times since setting foot outside The Seven, but her cell phone was shut off and no one was answering her house phone and he was freaking out. He reached over Sebastian's shoulder and repeatedly honked the horn. "WHY WON'T YOU MORONS FUCKING MOVE?!"

"SHUT IT, SPA BOY!" a guy in the car next to them shouted back.

It was true. What with all the commotion, Diego had forgotten to rinse off the exfoliation mask before leaving The Seven. But guess how much he cared about that right now.

Exactly: he didn't.

He leaned across Sebastian and stuck his head out the driver's side window. "I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU BE MAN ENOUGH TO WEAR ONE OF THESE, BUDDY!"

The drivers of several surrounding cars honked their horns and yelled for him to shut up.

Sebastian sank down in his seat. This was his mother's car and if an offended fellow citizen of Miami rammed into it because he or she was angry at Diego, Sebastian would be grounded for life. "Guys, why don't you just try to calm down and—"

Gigi gasped. "What if someone replaces me as the biggest gossip in school? What if she starts her own blog and everyone forgets about Miss Information?"

"GIGI, NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR BLOG!"

"DIEGO, YOU LOOK RIDICULOUS!"

Sebastian closed his eyes and silently started to pray.

"I'm trying Maddie's cell again." Diego's hand shook as he dialed her number.

"And I'm asking the tipster if Maniel is still at the zoo."

"STOP CALLING THEM THAT!"

"STOP STEALING THINGS FROM MY BATHROOM!"

Sebastian squeezed his eyes shut tighter. _Our Father who art in Heaven…_

A minute of intense silence passed. And then—

"No answer," Diego said in a choked up whisper. He threw his phone on the car floor so hard it bounced back. "NO FUCKING ANSWER! AGAIN! Maddie, please be okay…"

"Yes!" Gigi exclaimed. "The tipster said Maniel is still at the zoo!"

Sebastian glanced skyward and mouthed, _Thank You._

Diego was about to yell at his sister again when something painfully obvious occurred to him. In fact, it was so painfully obvious he wanted to punch himself in the face for only thinking of it now.

"Hey guys, wanna play a game?" he asked in as normal a voice as he could muster.

Gigi and Sebastian slowly turned around in their seats and looked at him as though he had five heads.

"Does it involve you killing us?" Sebastian asked. He looked like he was about to wet his pants.

"Of course not. It's fun. You, uh... you just need to close your eyes."

"What?!"

"Both of you."

"What?!" Gigi echoed.

"Would you just do it?"

"I don't think I—"

"DO IT!"

Gigi and Sebastian quickly faced forward and closed their eyes.

"Eyes closed?"

"Yes!"

"Are you lying?"

"No!"

Diego extended his arms in front of himself, tensed his muscles, and blew as hard as he could. The cars in front of them were blown to the sides and a clear path opened up in front of them.

"WE AREN'T JAMMED ANYMORE! GO! GO! GO!"

"But what about the game?"

"SEBASTIAN, OPEN YOUR DAMN EYES AND GO!"

The camera guy's eyes flew open and he stepped on the gas.

"How did that happen?" Gigi asked.

"Don't ask questions; just prepare to get your scoop," Diego said, grabbing his phone and trying Maddie yet again.

"Right!" Gigi went back to tapping her hand against the window, only this time it was because she was eager. "DRIVE FASTER, SEBASTIAN!"

Sebastian flinched and did as he was told. Forty miles per hour became fifty, fifty became sixty... Two police cars sped past them in the opposite direction. Wherever they were going must have been urgent because Sebastian was pretty sure they hadn't even glanced his way.

The Zoo Miami parking lot was mostly packed, with only a few remaining spots open. While Sebastian tried to gingerly maneuver his mom's car into one of them, Diego said, "Gigi, ask the tipster which exhibit Maddie's at."

"Kk," his sister said, thumbs scuttling across her keypad.

"Parked," Sebastian announced, yanking the keys out of the ignition.

"Come on, people; let's do this thing!" Diego jumped out one of the back doors, started running, and chanted, "Move! Move! Move!"

Gigi was right on his heels. Sebastian got Camera 1 out of the trunk then followed after the Rueda twins, a few paces behind.

"The tipster said Maddie's in line for the sky ride with Daniel and Jemma!" Gigi announced, shoes pounding against the pavement.

"Well of course Daniel's trying to get her on the sky ride," Diego spat. "He's probably planning to cuddle with her all the way to the other side of the zoo." He clenched his fists then asked, "Where are they getting on the sky ride at? Toward the entrance or toward the back?"

"I'll find out!"

They rounded a corner and the front of Zoo Miami came into view. A ton of people were crowded around the check-in desks, waiting to be admitted. The twins wove between families and friends and were almost to the front of the crowd when an out of breath Sebastian called out, "Guys, hold on!"

The twins turned around and yelled, "WHAT?!"

From a few feet away, he pointed to a sign they'd completely missed. "Admission's $15.95 per person. I didn't bring any money with me. Either of you got…" He did some calculations in the air with his index finger. "$47.85?"

Gigi and Diego scoured their pockets but came up with nothing.

Diego let loose with yet another string of choice words.

"Are you _kidding_ me?" Gigi said in a voice barely above a whisper. "We came all this way for nothing?!"

"I can go back to my house and—"

"NO!" the twins exclaimed at the same time. Sebastian flinched and nearly dropped Camera 1. Thankfully he didn't; Gigi would have beheaded him if he had.

"This is exactly why Principal Alonso shouldn't lie to me!" Gigi looked like she was about to cry. "I pre-ordered tickets online for Sebastian and me for NEXT Saturday!"

"What's on your face?" a little boy asked, squinting up at Diego.

The Kanay dug his fingernails into his palms to keep from exploding at the child. _Hold it in. Hold it in. You can release all your wrath on Daniel. Hold it in._ "It's an exfoliation mask," he said through his teeth.

The kid laughed. "I thought those were for girls."

"Billy!" his mother snapped. She looked at the group, said, "I'm so sorry," then ushered her son away.

Diego slowly exhaled and tried to clear his mind. He needed a plan. He needed a plan. He needed—

Just then, two security guards whizzed by on a golf cart. They drove through a special gate off to the left for employees only, away from the chaotic crowd, then disappeared into the zoo.

Bingo.

"You guys remember that game we played in the car?" Diego asked.

"Uhh…" Sebastian said.

"We're playing it again. Close your eyes. Both of you."

"This is not the time for stupid games no one understands, Diego," Gigi wailed. "My life is over!"

"Close your eyes or I'll tell Principal Alonso you're the one who broke into his office last week."

"But I was only in there for a second! I just needed a picture of his Principal of the Year award for Miss Inf—"

"EYES, GIGI!"

"Fine!" His sister shut her eyes. Sebastian already had his closed. He wasn't about to disobey an order; this family was freaking him out.

Diego ran to the right and took cover behind a shrub. Then he glanced around to make sure no one was watching, held out his arms, and blew a strong wind at a nearby employee. Immediately, the guy's uniform flew off his body and landed in Diego's hands, leaving the guy in nothing but his tighty whities. He shrieked then fled the premises.

Diego quickly changed out of his tee shirt and jeans and into the uniform (according to the name tag, the guy's name was Josh. Too bad there wasn't a last name included; Diego could have sent him an anonymous apology card. _Dear Josh _, Sorry for stealing your clothes. It was an emergency_). Leaving his own clothes in a discarded pile behind the shrub, he ran over to his sister and Sebastian and said, "We're in. Let's go."

"Where'd you—"

"Don't ask questions." Diego placed his hands on her back and pushed her forward. "Just go."

"Can I open my eyes now?" Sebastian asked. Only then did the twins realize he was still standing there.

"YES!"

Diego led the group to the employees-only gate then nodded at the woman stationed in front of it. "They're with me," he said in a deep voice, the same one he'd used when he delivered his apology presents to Maddie.

The woman nodded, barely glancing up from her magazine.

Once they made it through the gate, they all exhaled with relief.

"Alright. Gigi, where are we going?" Diego asked, dropping the deep voice.

His sister looked at her phone and said, "They're near the front of the line toward the back of the zoo, which means they'll be getting off…" She craned her neck to the left and then to the right until she spotted the front entrance to the sky ride. "Right there." Her phone went off with another alert and she gasped once she viewed it. "And look at this! Daniel has his shirt off!"

"WHAT?!" Diego tore the phone out of her hands and looked at the screen.

**From: Anonymous**

**Daniel's been putting the moves on Maddie all day. He even took off his shirt to show off what he wishes was a six pack.**

Since Gigi had already downloaded the image, underneath the text was a picture of a shirtless Daniel scowling in line. Both of the shirts he wasn't wearing were rumpled into a ball which he appeared to have a death grip on. Maddie must not have been standing too close to him because the only part of her that fit in the picture's crop was a lock of her hair.

Diego handed Gigi the phone before he could squeeze it so hard it broke then growled, "Oh, he is going down!" He ran toward the back of the zoo, in the opposite direction of the spot Gigi had indicated.

"Hey!" his sister shouted, running after him. Sebastian did the same. "Where are you going? We should wait up here!"

"Like hell we should wait up here!" There was no way the Kanay would be able to constrain himself for five more minutes, let alone ten or fifteen. "I'm going to find Daniel right now."

"But he's about to get on the sky ride!"

A shirtless Daniel touching legs with Maddie on the sky ride? Not on Diego's watch. Increasing his already super fast speed, he called over his shoulder, "He can't get on the sky ride if he's dead!"

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**One more chapter to go! Please review!**

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**I made a tribute video to Jaxy Waxy! The link is in my profile. Please check it out and leave a YouTube comment telling me what you thought or include that in your review. :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Ahhh guys! This is it! The last chapter! The fact that I posted the first chapter nine days ago and this story already has over 100 reviews... that's amazing. Thank you so much to everyone who has left such kind reviews for this story, especially to those who have left detailed reviews for every single chapter (those are my fave kind of reviews. I love knowing what your favorite parts were). I'm so glad you guys have enjoyed reading this story. I know I've enjoyed writing it. And I actually finished a multichap! Omg! Posting my stories to this site is helping me so much as a writer.**

**As you guys know, I'd fought for hours with WLMM last time I updated, so my mind was preoccupied and I totally forgot to say thank you for the reviews on Chapter 7. My apologies! You guys know I appreciated them. *hearts* Thank you for the reviews on not only Chapter 7 but also Chapter 8. (In response to ghostgirl19, yasss, delightisadream and I loved your lyrics and thought they were genius! "Hide your witches, hide your kanays." Perfection. XD And it's okay, I know life can get busy. We'd have like no way of knowing if something happened to our Internet friends, though, so I admit I was relieved when I got your review. XD) Also, thanks so much to everyone who has checked out my YouTube video(s) and said nice things about either/both of them! You guys are lovely.**

**Okay, I now present you with the longest chapter, the it-exceeds-4,000-words chapter, the final chapter, Chapter 9 of _The Most Cunning Beasts Don't Live in Cages_! Enjoy! :D**

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Ten more people to go. There were ten more people who had to get into cable cars before Daniel, Maddie, Emma, and Jax were at the front of the line for the sky ride. And time had apparently decided that, just like everyone else on this trip, it hated Daniel a lot. He'd already watched Emma and Jax be mushy all day, not to mention make out back in the water section. Now, as time dragged on, he had to stand here shirtless and cold (they were standing in the shade) while his (fake) date made it a point to stand a good three feet away from him and Jemma teased each other back and forth, pecking each other on the lips every once in a while. Jax would tell Emma how pretty she was and she would giggle and he would play with her hair and she would tell him he was so nice and on and on and on and Daniel just really wanted to punch Jax in his annoyingly perfect face.

A family of three arrived at the drop-off station. Two of the ten people stepped up and climbed into the now-empty cable car. A couple got out of the next one and some single guy with a beer belly got in alone. The cable cars took off, the line moved up, and everyone returned to waiting.

Seven more people to go.

Just then a group of children walked by. They were a good five paces behind their parents and it was enough to make them stand out.

"Hey, Daniel," Maddie said. "Keep your eyes this way." She pointed in the opposite direction of the youth. Jax grinned while Emma shook her head at Daniel with disappointment.

"For the last time, I am not a pedophile!"

The people in front of them whipped their heads around and gave him funny looks.

Jax and Maddie cracked up.

"You know what, Maddie?" Daniel took a step toward her, anger about to boil over. "You are way out of line."

"_I'm _way out of line?"

"Yes! All I did was ask for a kiss. There's nothing—"

"No," the blonde interrupted. This time it was she who took a step toward him. "You _continued_ to ask me for a kiss _after _I said no."

"Yeah, Daniel," Jax said, looking his enemy directly in the eye. "Didn't you hear her say no the first time?"

Boom.

Had Daniel's cell phone not started ringing right at that moment, his fist would have been making marvelous contact with Jax's jaw. As it was, Daniel had to fight off his impulses once more. When he extracted his phone from the pocket of his shorts, the caller ID said MIAMI PD. His heart stopped for half a second before it started beating up his throat. No. There was no way someone had actually called the cops on him. _He was not a pedophile!_

"You gonna answer that, Mr. I'm Not a Pedo?" a guy ahead of them asked, making the rest of the surrounding people chuckle. He and four other people took the two cable cars that had just arrived. The remaining two people were together so the next time two cars came around, Jax, Emma, Maddie, and Daniel would be getting in one of them. They all moved up in line.

Daniel swallowed the lump in his throat and pressed the answer button. "H-Hello?"

"DANIEL!" a shrill female voice screeched. Wait a minute. He knew that voice…

"Mrs. Van Pelt?" he asked incredulously.

Maddie turned to look at him, confused. "Why is my mom calling you?"

"Is Maddie with you?" Ursula demanded.

"Uh, yeah… you dropped us off together this morning… Remember?"

"Why is my mom calling you?" Maddie asked again.

"Let me talk to her. Now."

"I don't—"

"Daniel, if you were here right now, I would wring your neck. Give my Maddie-Winky the phone, stat!" A male voice in the back murmured something to which Ursula responded, "No, not really!"

"Daniel!" Maddie stomped her foot.

"She wants to talk to you!" The outcast practically threw his phone at the blonde. What on Earth could Mrs. Van Pelt be mad at him for? She was one of the few remaining people in existence who still liked him…

"Mom?" Maddie said, voice tinged with concern. She covered her other ear with her hand in an attempt to hear better. "Mother—no, I left my phone at home in case… wait—MOTHER! Slow down. I can't understand you…" There was a pause and then she did understand and she gasped. "You WHAT?! Mother! Why would you… Yes, I'd love to hear your explanation." Another pause and then Maddie's jaw dropped and she turned once again to look at Daniel. "He _didn't_. Why would anyone help you do that?!"

Her classmates exchanged confused glances, completely lost.

"Mother, I—MOTHER! I can't leave yet… Because, we're about to get on the sky ride and… okay, fine, I'll be there as soon as I can!" She ended the call then stared at Daniel, so furious she couldn't even speak right away.

"Maddie, what's wrong?" Emma asked with concern.

"You wanna know what's wrong?" the blonde witch asked, sort of laughing but in a totally non-humorous way. "My mom's in jail. Your dad called the cops on her because she was spying on him from your kitchen window because our stalker ex-boyfriend here told her that was a good creeping spot!"

Everyone's mouths dropped: Daniel's in an _oh shit _manner; Emma's in horror; Jax's in triumph.

"I _told_ you I wasn't kidding!" the wizard exclaimed with excitement. Then he realized Emma looked like she was about to throw up and the seriousness of the situation hit him. White-hot rage bore from his eyes into Daniel's. "You fucking pervert!"*

Daniel said nothing in response. It wasn't another Northern Lights moment; it was that he couldn't even defend himself against that accusation because his voice had disappeared. He also couldn't run because his legs had turned to lead. All he could do was stand there before three people who were disgusted with him. And then he found his voice and blurted, "Sophie spies from your trees!"

"She also eats the leaves off the plants at school!" Jax spat back. "She's Sophie; she's weird but she's harmless."

"I'm harmless, too!"

"NO, YOU'RE NOT!" Maddie yelled. "You've been making me uncomfortable all day, you got my mom arrested, and—just look at Emma!"

Everyone turned toward the good witch. She looked extremely pale.

"Em, are you okay?" Jax asked, placing the back of his hand to her forehead. She barely shook her head in response. "Do you need a drink of water?"

"If you think that's creepy, just listen to this," Maddie continued. Emma wasn't Maddie's favorite person, but they now shared not one but two common bonds: they were both witches and they both knew what it was like to feel uncomfortable because of Daniel Miller. And Maddie wanted Emma to be just as pissed at Daniel as she was. "He even _named_ your kitchen window."

"I told you not to mention Janis!" As soon as he said it, Daniel clamped his hands over his mouth. That was not the right thing to say. Not that there was _any_ right thing to say at this point, but if there was, that was definitely not it.

Jax was desperately trying not to laugh because, while he thought it was hilarious how pathetic Daniel was, his girlfriend was near tears. And that was in no way a laughing matter.

"I… I feel so violated…" Emma managed. "Daniel… you need help… you're not right…"

"Emma, listen!" he tried desperately.

"No; _you_ listen, creep," Jax snarled, shoving him hard in the chest. "If I _ever_ catch you lurking around outside her house from this moment on, I swear I—"

"Next!" an employee hollered.

The group turned around to discover their cable car was waiting for them.

"This should be fun," Maddie said with an evil grin. She willingly grabbed Daniel's hand, said, "Let's go," and yanked him toward their car.

"I-I don't know if I can be in such a small space with him, Jax," Emma stammered. "Ever again, but especially right now."

"Em, I promise, I will not let him creep on you." Her boyfriend placed a protective arm around her shoulders and led her toward the car. "If he tries anything, I'll turn him into a caterpillar and stomp on him. Okay?"

"O-Okay." Emma nodded, willing the anxiety in her chest to go away.

The cable car was pretty small, but at least Emma didn't have to sit next to Daniel. The stalker was nervously sitting next to Maddie who looked like she was going to enjoy watching him suffer through these next undoubtedly long three minutes. Emma sat across from Maddie while Jax sat across from Daniel. Emma leaned into Jax, grabbed his hand, and squeezed. He placed his other hand on top of hers to let her know she was safe. The gesture calmed her nerves just a bit.

While one employee was in the middle of securing the lock on their car, another was leaning over the gate in an attempt to get a better view of a disturbance further back in the line. "Hey, what are you doing? You can't bring a camera—"

"GET AWAY FROM MY WOMAN!"

Suddenly, a strong wind hit the foursome's cable car, jerking them away from the employee before she could finish securing the lock. They were in motion. Another strong wind followed, but this one only hit Daniel. It knocked him out of the cable car and onto the launch area, which by that point was a good four feet beneath them. He yelped in pain but everyone ignored him.

The next thing anyone knew, Diego dove into their cable car and took Daniel's seat.

"Proxy?!" Maddie asked, awestruck.

"Maddie! Are you okay?" Diego wrapped his arms around his girlfriend in a protective embrace, hugging her tightly. "Did he hurt you?"

Before Maddie could answer, they all heard two voices screaming for help. But neither voice belonged to Daniel. Jax and Emma leaned over the edge of their car to find Gigi and Sebastian hanging onto the bottom for dear life (in Sebastian's case, he was holding on to the cable car with one hand and Camera 1 with the other).

"Whoa!" Jemma exchanged a brief look of agreement then casted spells in their heads to make Gigi and Sebastian appear inside the cable car (thankfully, they were so flustered they didn't even question it). Except there wasn't a lot of room and the sides were really short, so Gigi perched on one of the sides while Sebastian perched on the other, the one with the door. Gigi placed her hands on Emma's and Maddie's shoulders for support, but since Sebastian was holding the camera, he only had one hand placed on Jax's shoulder for support (and he wasn't complaining; he was perfectly fine with not making physical contact with Diego).

Gigi looked at the camera and said, "Hello, my lovely followers! This is an urgent alert. I'm live with Sebastian on Camera 1 and we're here at Zoo Miami where a TON of drama has just gone down! Principal Alonso lied to me: the raffle trip to the zoo was actually today. Jax Novoa invited his girlfriend Emma Alonso while Daniel Miller somehow got my brother Diego's girlfriend Maddie Van Pelt to go with him! As you saw moments ago, Daniel was just weirdly knocked out of this cable car. I guess he finally got what was coming to him because, just today, he proved that he is a terrible human being!"

Jax scoffed. "_Just_ today?"

Gigi inclined her head toward Maddie. Sebastian quickly turned the camera on her. "Maddie, tell us what happened."

"And DON'T interrupt her like you do to all the people you interview!" Diego warned.

"Gigi, please listen to him," Sebastian whimpered.

The brunette nodded once and pretended to zip her lips shut. Under any other circumstance, no one would have trusted her to follow through. But on this particular occasion, Gigi needed this interview to save her rep; she was all about letting Maddie do the talking.

"Well," Maddie began, smoothing down her hair. "It all started yesterday at school after Daniel found out he and Jax won the raffle. He was jealous that Jax was bringing Emma, so he lied and said we were secretly seeing each other behind Diego's back."

The Kanay's mouth dropped. "That scumbag!"

"Then he showed up at my house and begged me to be his fake date. He was hoping to make Emma jealous so she'd go back to him."

"I _knew_ it!" Emma exclaimed. "What a jerk!"

"I said no a bunch of times but he kept bothering me until I finally said I'd go if he found a pair of shoes for me." She looked at her boyfriend guiltily. "You know, the ones you can never repli—uh, find?"

He nodded intently.

"Those ones. I never would have agreed to this if it had been anything else… But anyway, after Daniel left, Diego and the Panthers came over to hang out and I started to feel really guilty about doing this behind Diego's back." She returned her eyes to her boyfriend and said, "I'm really sorry."

The entire car gasped but not Diego. Ever since he'd gotten to know the real Maddie Van Pelt, he'd always believed she was capable of apologizing. He clasped her hand and said, "It's okay. I know how much those shoes mean to you."

"Aweee!" Gigi cooed. "Miego moment! Anyway. What happened next?"

"Well, this morning my mom dropped me and Daniel off here at Zoo Miami and said she had some 'errands' to run…" She shook her head. The sky ride reached the halfway point and began its minute-and-a-half-long descent to the other sky ride boarding site, the one near the zoo's entrance. "Daniel and I met up with Jax and Emma and walked into the zoo. For hours, I had to let Daniel hold my hand and say boyfriend-y things to me when I didn't want him to. I even had to take pictures with him in an old photo booth. That upset me so much I ran off to the bathroom."

Gigi was the definition of giddy. Maddie Van Pelt was admitting weakness live! For _her_ blog! _She must _really_ like Diego…_

"When I came out, Daniel and Emma had gone to buy us pizza and Jax was waiting for me. He could tell Daniel and I weren't really together so he got the truth out of me then had me give him the photo booth pictures of me and Daniel."

"Ohhh, so _you're_ the one who sent me that picture!" Gigi smiled at the best Shark. "Thanks!"

Before Maddie could yell at him, Jax said, "You made me promise not to send them to _Diego_, which I didn't!"

The blonde quietly growled for a moment before saying, "Well, I guess it all worked out in the end…"

Jax smirked. "Well of course it did; it was a Jax plan."

She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, then Jax casted—uh, found my shoes—"

Gigi's eyebrows crinkled. "He found them at the—"

"He said I could have them if I stayed on the date, stopped letting Daniel walk all over me, and stopped asking questions about the pictures. I agreed—" She pulled the shoes out of her bag and showed them to the camera. "See? Aren't they so cute?!—then I went to meet up with Emma and Daniel. During that time is when Jax sent you the pictures, I guess."

"You helped _Maddie_?" Emma asked her boyfriend, raising her eyebrows.

"Uhh…" It hadn't occurred to him that Emma might not appreciate him helping her enemy…

But then she smiled and said, "That was really nice of you."

He exhaled with relief and met her lips for a kiss.

"Jemma moment!" Gigi exclaimed. Then she waved her hand in front of her face to compose herself and turned back to Maddie. "Continue."

"After that, the date got a lot more fun," she said evilly. "We were all done with Daniel and some security guard mistook him for a pedophile and kicked us out of the kiddie water section."

Diego erupted into laughter, Gigi gasped, "O-M-GiGi!" and Sebastian snorted, "That's great."

"Yeaaah…" Maddie got a faraway look in her eyes then said, "But anyway, after that my mom called Daniel and asked to talk to me. She'd tried calling my cell phone but I left it at home because I was afraid Diego would text me and I would cave and tell him what was going on." She gave her boyfriend a small smile.

He pulled her in for another hug. "Awe, Maddie, you should have known I wouldn't be mad at you."

"More Miego!" Gigi gushed. She did the hand wave once again then said, "Continue."

"My mom wanted me to come pick her up. She'd been arrested because Daniel told her it was a good idea to lurk outside Emma's kitchen window. She hasn't gotten over Emma's dad…"

Diego's eyes widened. He looked at Jemma to get their reactions.

Jax shook his head while Emma fumed, "I'm going to kill him." Now that she was hearing Maddie's story, she wasn't scared of their ex-boyfriend; she was furious with him.

"I hung up and then it was our turn to get on the sky ride. And that's when my Proxy showed up and saved me from Daniel." She hugged the Kanay and said to the camera, "How wonderful is he? And look!" She pointed to his face. "He's even started exfoliating, just like he promised me he would!" She smiled at him and said, "You're the best."

"No, _you're_ the best," he said.

The two shared a kiss which earned them an "Awww" from Emma and an "Eww" from Gigi and Jax. Sebastian didn't say anything because it suddenly felt like he was wobbling on the door. What was going on? "Uhh, Gigi?"

"Well, followers, there you have it!" Gigi smiled at the camera.

"Gigi!" Sebastian was definitely wobbling. It was almost as if this door wasn't locked shut…

"This has been an exclusive with Miego and Jemma, live from Zoo Miami. Take that, Principal Alonso! Until next time, I'm Gigi Rueda and you've been Miss Informed!"

"Heeeeeeelp!"

Gigi, Jemma, and Miego all watched in horror as the cable car's door swung open and Sebastian went with it. Gigi frantically moved so she was standing in the middle of the cable car, reached out, and saved Camera 1. But before either of the guys (since they were closest to him) could grab Sebastian's hand, the camera guy slipped off the door and became airborne. All five of them screamed his name as he pummeled ten, twenty, thirty feet down toward the ground. They were so panicked that none of the four magical beings thought to cast a spell or send a wind to make Sebastian land on something soft. It looked like he was going to fall on a person who was jumping up and down, shouting things at their cable car…

"EMMA, I LOVE YOU!" the person cried.

Only then did they realize the person was Daniel. He'd chased after their cable car from the whole other side of the zoo.

"WELL I DON'T LOVE YOU!" Emma shouted back, looking over her shoulder because Daniel was standing still while their cable car continued to move. "I LOVE JAX!"

Her cute Australian boyfriend grinned. "YOU HEARD THE LADY, DANIEL! JUST ACCEPT IT: YOU LOSE!"

"NOOOOOO!" the outcast wailed. He was in the middle of a tantrum when Sebastian landed on him, curtly cutting him off.

The entire cable car gasped then held their breath.

After a moment, Sebastian got to his feet and yelled, "I'M OKAY!"

The cable car cheered. Gigi turned the camera on herself and said, "And as an added bonus, you guys just witnessed Sebastian the Camera Guy** doing a major stunt _and _service to both Jemma and Miego by falling thirty feet from the air and landing on Daniel! _Now_ I'm Gigi Rueda and you've been Miss Informed!"

She hit the end button on Camera 1 and squealed. "I did it! I saved Miss Information!" She leaned over the side of the cable car and shouted, "THANKS, SEBASTIAN!"

"I'M FREE!" He laughed like someone who had just escaped the psych ward. "I'M FINALLY AWAY FROM YOU TWO!" He fled the scene, headed for the Zoo Miami exit. He couldn't wait to get to his mom's car and drive home without the Rueda twins.

Daniel groaned, got to his feet, and cried all the way to the exit.

The cable car arrived at the drop off station near the front of the zoo. The employee who stopped them could do nothing more than gawk. Their door was open and they had a fifth passenger who was standing up _and_ holding a camera. _What the hell…_

She didn't get to ask because the group of five was gone in a flash.

"That was awesome!" Jax said, wrapping an arm around Emma as they walked through the zoo.

"For real!" Maddie clapped her hands as Diego wrapped an arm around her.

Gigi, who was walking between the two couples, brought a hand to her heart. "The feels are just too much. I should record—"

"No!" everyone yelled.

She pouted. "Fine…"

"So…" Emma looked around at her boyfriend and their… friends? Was Maddie their friend now? "What do we do now?"

"Don't you have to go bail your mom out of jail?" Diego asked Maddie.

She shrugged. "Eh, I said I would. But the zoo doesn't close for another four hours. Now that you're here, why don't we stay and enjoy it?"

"But I thought you hated the zoo."

"Proxy, I'm trying to do something nice so we can spend time together," she said tiredly. "Don't make it more difficult for me than it already is."

"Okay!" His face lit up with excitement. He looked at Jemma and said, "You guys want to race golf carts?!"

"We can't," Emma said, looking confused. "Only employees have access to the golf carts."

Diego pointed to his name tag with one hand and extracted a set of keys from his pocket with the other. "And Josh is an employee," he said in a deep voice.

"Sweet!" Jax exclaimed. "How 'bout it, Em?"

She smiled. Now that Daniel was 100% out of her life, she had this new sense of freedom. She felt like she could do things that made her happy without feeling guilty, and that included living a little. And right now, she wanted to live a little. "Let's do it!"

Maddie clapped her hands again. "Yay! Let's go, Proxy."

"Can I record this?" Gigi asked, clasping her hands together. "Pleeeeease?"

The group shrugged and said, "I guess…"

"Yes!"

"By the way," Maddie said as they ran off in search of some golf carts, "how'd you get that uniform?"

"I used my Kanay powers to, uh, borrow them from whoever Josh is," he said a bit sheepishly. "I didn't have money for a ticket and I could tell from those pictures you weren't happy. I had to get in somehow so I could rescue you."

It suddenly occurred to Maddie that _of course _anyone who looked at those pictures would be able to tell she was upset. Jax had actually _helped_ by sending them to Gigi.

"You stole the clothes off a stranger's back so you could sneak into the zoo and save me?"

"Of course."

"Awww! That is so sweet!"

For the next four hours, Jemma and Miego raced golf carts around Zoo Miami while Gigi drove behind them, recording it all. Maddie, Diego, and Gigi could figure out how they were getting home later, just like Ursula could wait to get bailed out of jail. What mattered was Jax had been right: everyone except for Daniel ended up winning.

Jax had successfully exposed Daniel and was finally able to spend the day with his Em without the creeper around. Emma was officially done with Daniel, even in the friendly sense, and now he wouldn't be able to stalk or influence her anymore. Maddie was free of Daniel and all her prior guilt, and she had her shoes back. She'd even learned it was okay to show her vulnerable side sometimes. Diego had proven yet again that he was Maddie's Kanay in Shining Armor. Jemma was in love and, while maybe they weren't ready to say it out loud yet, it was clear Miego was, too. Gigi had gotten far more than an exclusive, which meant her followers would love her even more than they had before. And Sebastian had escaped the Rueda twins.

It turned out to be a wonderful, real double date after all.

THE END.

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***Hope you liked that, CelestialTitania. ;)**

****They really need to give Sebastian a last name. He's awesome haha. :)**

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**Tada! Please review! :D *kisses*  
**


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